Naruto: The Gamer Files
by MaxFic
Summary: Naruto has always had video games to fall back on growing up while the rest of the village pretty much treated him like garbage. What happens when Naruto wakes up to find his life has become one of the video games he loves so much. Naruto/The Gamer crossover. All Chapters Revised.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto absent mindedly waved away the blue color box that his sleep addled mind created to wake him up. Clearly he'd been up far too late making his latest RPG his bitch.

Slowly he rolled to a sitting position on the edge of his bed, allowing his feet to settle on the cold wood flooring. Clearly his landlord had shut off his heat again, nothing new there. Naruto stretched his arms over his head yawning exaggeratedly as he did every morning. He looked over at his small selection of potted plants. "Good morning," he said groggily. His eyes still bleary and ignoring the yellow boxes hovering in the air above the three little plants.

He stood and walked first to his dresser, pulling out clean underwear then grabbing his track suit from the floor where he'd discarded it the night before. It wasn't technically dirty by his standards as it only really needed to be washed once a week, or if he got it bloody, covered in vomit from some drunk trying to attack him, or splattered with rotten food if he lingered too long in the market district. Unfortunately he couldn't really afford to wash it more often than that since his water bill was too damn high as it was already.

Clothes in hand he walked through the small apartment, past the combined living room and kitchen, to the small bathroom, only shower and toilet in it. He wedged the bathroom door shut, jamming the kunai he kept on the bathroom counter into the door frame to hold it shut, it was necessary given the broken doorknob that his landlord refused to repair.

He briefly glanced in the mirror, seeing the blue lettering above his head but not really registering it as he scrutinize his nose and whisker marks. He turned from the mirror and flipped up the toilet seat, careful not to break it any further as the landlord once again wouldn't fix it. He couldn't help the sigh of relief as he relieved himself of the excess liquid that filled his bladder as he slept. He put the lid down but wouldn't flush a number one, only number two gets flushed and usually he'd go out for that.

Business done, he stripped down quickly and stepped into the shower and braced himself as he turned on the water. Without any time to waste, he was met a moment later by ice cold water jolting him wide awake. He quickly grabbed the bar of soap and began to hastily scrub his body from top to bottom, making sure he got all the sensitive bits along the way. Then just as quickly he rinsed and turned off the shower. All told, it took about two minutes of his time.

Out the shower he grabbed his toothbrush and squirted a little tooth paste on it before attacking his mouth with vigor. It was not pleasant as once again he just couldn't justify using the water.

He walked out of the bathroom toward his window and fire escape to grab the water pale he'd put out the night before to collect the rain. It was about half full which was a good haul for a single night. In the kitchen he poured the water into two pitchers but not before pouring himself a glass. He then put the two pitchers into his refrigerator, which wouldn't keep them cold per se but did stop them from getting warm. The fridge was yet another thing the damned landlord refused to fix or replace and Naruto couldn't afford to do it himself.

Naruto scrubbed his mouth one more time over and took out the toothbrush. He held it over the sink and poured a little water from his glass over it, just enough for him to shake out any toothpaste. He then took a mouthful and swished it around before swallowing. He couldn't afford to waste the water either, for as lush as Hi no Kuni was, it got surprisingly little rain.

Naruto walked back to the bathroom, drinking his water as he walked. He set his toothbrush back on the counter and dressed himself. He looked in the mirror again and fussed with his hair, trying to get the spiky design he preferred just right when he finally noticed the blue glowing words hovering over his head.

**Uzumaki Naruto – Academy Student – Lvl. 3**

**The Gamer**

"What the fuck?" he questioned aloud. He moved his hands up and waved them through the words not disturbing them in the slightest.

"What the fuck?" he questioned again, blinking several times. "Okay, Naruto, you my friend, have been spending way too much of your down time playing video games." Naruto then slapped himself hard, nearly knocking himself to the floor. "Shut the fuck up. Don't ever say shit like that again," he said harshly, glaring at himself in the mirror.

The truth was video games were his only salvation in his otherwise totally shitty and messed up life. When he was five the Hokage had given him his first video game console. It was the latest and greatest and all the kids at school could do nothing but talk about them. Those that had one bragged about it, those that didn't were envious of those that did. When he said he'd had one he thought it might lead to friends and some of the kids were interested. That didn't last as their parents said 'no'. An emphatic 'no' in fact that was accompanied with threats of bodily harm. Regardless, games became Naruto's friends, taught him morality, right from wrong, good from evil. So other than ninja academy and training, video games were Naruto's life.

"You're right, what was I thinking? I'm sure this is just some kind of delusion. I must have eaten a bad batch of instant ramen. That's why I'm seeing things," Naruto explained to himself. He was greeted again by a severe slap to the face.

"Blasphemy!" he cried aloud to himself.

Naruto glared once more at himself in the mirror. Then he glanced up at the blue words again and shrugged. They would probably go away soon.

He left the bathroom once more to put on his shoes, put on his hip pouch and strap his weapons pouch to his leg. He looked around his apartment one more time to make sure he didn't forget anything before he opened his door and set out for the first day of his last year in the academy, his last chance.

The Konoha Shinobi Academy, commonly referred to as the KSA, was Naruto's school. He was one of the select few admitted. It was a school for aspiring ninja in training. He was also quite possibly the worst student there. He'd attempted to graduate early twice before having failed both times. This would be his third year in the academy and his last possible chance to graduate, if you didn't make genin by thirteen you were simply cut from the program without exception. Naruto would be turning thirteen in ten months on October 10th. The graduation exam was on November 30th. So he had eleven months to get it done or he was done.

Naruto's landlord was waiting for him at the exit to the building.

"Rent's due," he said gruffly, a golden question mark was hovering over his head.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow curious about where this would go. "What the hell, why not?"

A blue window popped up in front of him.

**A Quest has been created.**

There was a '?' in the top left corner and an arrow in the bottom right corner. Naruto pressed the arrow.

**Quest Alert**

**Rent is due: Pay Rent**

**Rent must be paid by 6:00 pm or you will be evicted. Pay the landlord 1000 ryo by 6:00 pm or clear out the chakra rat nest in the basement by 6:00 pm (must bring their tails as proof of kill). **

**Completion Award: 500 Exp.**

**Increase reputation with landlord (reputation increase will double for clearing out the chakra rat nest).**

**Completion Failure: Eviction**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

**Yes – No**

Naruto blinked several times.

"Make up your mind already, I don't have all day," said the landlord.

Naruto quickly touched the 'Yes' button.

"Remember, 6:00 pm or you're out of here," said the man once more time before walking past Naruto shouldering him rudely as he passed.

"What the fuck?" asked Naruto again. He glanced above the head of his landlord.

**Michiya Ota – Landlord – Lvl. 7**

Naruto put his hands together forming a handseal quickly and flared his chakra shouting, "Kai!" There was no effect at all.

"So if I did that wrong I might still be in a genjutsu but if I didn't then I'm not in a genjutsu and this is all real," he said to himself, given the hallway exiting his building was now empty.

Naruto's walk to the academy was a bit slower than usual as he looked around now seeing level markers above everyone in the village. He'd noticed quickly that most children were only level 1 and civilians topped out around 15 and those at the highest seemed to be tradesmen. The ninja that he saw varied from level 10 to around 30 and then there were a lot of ? level shinobi. It appeared the ones around level 10 to 20 were genin, 20-30 must have been chuunin. The ? must have been chuunin and jounin. If this held true to games that meant their level was so high he couldn't even comprehend it.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

Naruto blinked in surprise yet again. He tapped the blue box and another popped up.

**Through continuous observation, a skill to find target's information, 'Observe' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

"What the hell? What the hell is [Observe]?" asked Naruto. Suddenly there was a new pop up in orange this time.

**Akimichi Dogo – Master Baker – Lvl. 15**

**HP: 500 CP: 150**

**Master Baker of the Akimichi Clan**

"Cool," said Naruto, half in surprise and half because it really was cool as hell.

Naruto spent the next twenty minutes trying to obverse as many people as he can when another blue wind popped up.

**[Observe]'s level has risen by one.**

"Again, cool," he said to himself. Looking the master baker again he activated the ability again. "Observe."

**Akimichi Dogo – Master Baker – Lvl. 15**

**HP: 500 (500) CP: 150**

**Master Baker of the Akimichi Clan. Well known for his baking prowess, Dogo serves the best breads in all of Hi no Kuni, he's even baked for royalty on occasion.**

"Sweet," said Naruto. "So I can level up the skills so they work better."

Another blue window popped up interrupting his excitement.

**Quest Alert**

**Don't be late: Arrive to Academy on time.**

**You have ten minutes to arrive to class before you're late.**

**Completion Award: 100 Exp**

**Increase reputation with Konoha Twelve**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Konoha**

**Yes – No **

"What?" shouted Naruto, quickly tapping the yes and beginning to sprint for the academy. He barely glanced at the large timer that began to count down in his peripheral vision.

Naruto barely slid into the classroom with twenty seconds left.

**You've barely arrived before the start of class.**

**Completion Awarded: 100 Exp and +5 to reputation with Konoha Twelve.**

Naruto would have paid more attention if he wasn't huffing and puffing from having sprinted halfway across Konoha to make it to class on time. Granted he recovered very quickly but damn that was difficult. Naruto finally looked at the messages and accepted but couldn't help wondering who the hell the 'Konoha Twelve' were and why he gained reputation with them or why it was even important.

Naruto sat down finally with a huff looking around and seeing that all of his classmates had the same blue lettering above their heads with their names and levels. It didn't make him happy either. As he looked around he noticed that most of the students were between levels 3-6 with the exception of eight of his classmates.

**Haruno Sakura Lvl 7**

**Yamanaka Ino Lvl 7**

**Hyuuga Hinata Lvl 8**

**Nara Shikamaru Lvl 8**

**Akimichi Chouji Lvl 8**

**Inuzuka Kiba Lvl 9**

**Aburame Shino Lvl 9**

**Uchiha Sasuke Lvl 12**

Naruto wanted to cry out and scream in frustration. They were all so much better than him, even the object of his affection. How could it have been possible that they were all so much stronger than he was?

Naruto began to **[Observe]** each of them in turn only serving to frustrate him further.

**Haruno Sakura – Academy Student – Lvl 7**

**HP: 100 (100) CP: 50**

**Haruno Sakura is the smartest student in class. Though very intelligent she is not very physically gifted. She pines after Uchiha Sasuke and is bitter rivals with Yamanaka Ino for 'Sasuke-kun's affections.**

Naruto growled after that one.

**Yamanaka Ino – Academy Student – Lvl 7**

**HP: 100 (100) CP: 100**

**Yamanaka Ino is a member of the famed Yamanaka clan known for their mind techniques. She is quite vain placing too much value on looks instead of her skills. She pines after Uchiha Sasuke and is bitter rivals with Haruno Sakura for 'Sasuke-kun's affections.**

Naruto actually almost snickered when he saw the last line mirrored Sakura's.

**Hyuuga Hinata – Academy Student – Lvl 8**

**HP: 150 (150) CP: 100**

**Hyuuga Hinata is a member of the elitist Hyuuga clan known for their doujutsu and unique taijutsu style. She is a very sweet girl but very shy so not well known by her classmates. She finds the strength to improve from watching the person she most admires.**

Naruto couldn't help but smile at that. Hinata sounded awesome, he made a mental note to try to get to know her a bit this year.

**[Observe]'s level has risen by one.**

"Already," mumbled Naruto. "Let's see what this does."

**Nara Shikamaru – Academy Student – Lvl 8**

**HP: **100/100

**CP: **150/150

**STR: ** 7

**VIT: **10

**DEX: **11

**INT: **15

**WIS: **35

**LUK: **3

**Nara Shikamaru is a member of the famed Nara clan known for their intellect and laziness. The unique ability to manipulate shadows makes them rather versatile shinobi. Shikamaru is by far the smartest Nara born in many generations and in turn is also the laziest.**

"Damn, Shikamaru is smart," Naruto said in appreciation, earning a glance from the 'sleeping' Nara from a few seats over. Naruto smiled nervously at the look but was able to laugh it off.

Shikamaru admittedly was curious but decided to shrug it off mumbling "Troublesome" as he turned his head back and closed his eyes once more.

Naruto would have continued scanning the rest of the class but his teachers chose that moment to enter.

Thankfully he had Umino Iruka again as a teacher. His assistant was new though.

**Umino Iruka – Academy Instructor – Lvl 25**

**Touji Mizuki – Academy Assistant Instructor – Lvl 22**

Naruto was starting to like the names above their heads. This time though he noticed there was a leaf symbol next to their names.

**Umino Iruka – Academy Instructor – Lvl 25**

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **1000/1000

**CP: **750/750

**STR: **?

**VIT:** ?

**DEX: **?

**INT:** ?

**WIS: **?

**LUK: **?

**Umino Iruka is a dedicated Academy Instructor finding his life fulfilled teaching the next generation of Shinobi. **

Now Naruto found that odd. The data wasn't near as complete. It was similar to his level two of [Observe]. It must have been because Iruka's level was so much higher than his own. Naruto tried on Mizuki and the results were the same. It told him there was a limit to his ability while his own level was so low.

That raised several other questions. How could he level up? Was it only quests? For that matter what were his own stats? Then it occurred to him that if this was a game he should be able to get a command prompt of some kind right?

"Profile," he tried first. "Pause. Menu. Status-" the last one popped up an orange menu

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Academy Student(+25% experience gain up to level 10)

**Level:** LV3

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **600/600

**CP: **600/600

**STR: **10

**VIT: **20 (10)

**DEX: **5

**INT: **20 (10)

**WIS: **3

**LUK: **?

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill),** ? **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level**), Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: 0**

**Ryo: 3500**

"What the hell?" he grumbled.

"You need something, Naruto?" asked Iruka, how man was suddenly looking over his shoulder he had no idea.

"No, Iruka-sensei," said Naruto hoping the man would move on quickly.

"Then you can tell me what I just said?" asked Iruka.

"You introduced us to Mizuki-sensei?" asked Naruto, hoping he was really lucky.

"I guess you were paying attention," said Iruka moving on.

**Your Luck holds out and you save yourself from detention on the first day of class causing your LUK to go up by 1.**

Naruto had to restrain himself from jumping up and down and cheering. He checked his status again and his LUK stat was still '?'. So either it was really high or negative if it could go negative for that matter. What the hell does LUK do for him anyway?

Naruto tapped the '?' symbol in the top left corner of his Status window. Instantly several small boxes appeared in black with yellow writing and yellow lines were drawn pointing to each area of the status window.

**LUK: **Luck is the chance of an event falling in your favor in non-combat actions. This impacts mostly gambling and loot drops.

Naruto nodded before looking at the other stats.

**STR: **Strength effects how much damage your physical and weapon attacks deal and how much damage your ability to parry reduces. Speed is increased 0.25 when both STR and DEX increase by 1 if equal.

**VIT: **Vitality impacts your total HP and endurance. The more vitality you have the more damage you can take and the longer you can fight. This also impacts how quickly you recover HP while not in combat.

**DEX: **Dexterity effects how effectively you can dodge attacks and how accurate your own attacks are. Speed is increased 0.25 when both STR and DEX increase by 1 if equal.

**INT: **Intelligence impacts your total CP, how quickly your CP recovers and how much damage your jutsu cause. The also impacts your ability to learn and memorize information.

**WIS: **Wisdom affects how smart you are and how well you can use what you know. This has a massive impact on your Chakra Control.

**Status: **Throughout the game you can acquire and unveil any number of status effects both temporary (i.e. Stun, Sleep, etc.) and permanent (i.e. Sharingan, Hyouton, etc.). Some permanent effects can only be gained through genetics while others require specific actions.

**Title: **Earn your title and gain varied and sometimes beneficial titles throughout the game.

Naruto couldn't help but sigh. It was a lot of information for him to process. Naruto closed the menu and tried to pay attention to the lecture but quickly zoned out as he daydreamed about all the kickass things he could do with his new gamer ability.

"Okay, students, please read this booklet and then we'll head out to the practice range to work on kunai and shuriken bukijutsu," said Iruka.

Mizuki then began passing out the booklets to each of the students.

"Why do we have to read this again?" complained Kiba. "Every year we get this damned booklet."

"Because every year we like to refresh our students so they don't get sloppy or lazy in their technique," said Iruka, his glare quickly silencing the Inuzuka boy.

Naruto sighed as he looked at the booklet in front of him. He grabbed the book and made to open it when a new pop up appeared.

**You've obtained the skill book [Kunai and Shuriken Bukijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto nearly tore his hair out at this. He knew how to throw damned Shuriken and Kunai. What the fuck was wrong with this game?

Naruto tapped the 'Confirm (Y)' just to see what would happen. The book going up in fire and smoke was not ideal and earned him glares from both Mizuki and Iruka.

**You've obtained the skill 'Kunai Bukijutsu' and 'Shuriken Bukijutsu'.**

Two large orange windows popped up a moment later.

**[Kunai Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Kunai usage in both melee and ranged combat.

Passively increases kunai accuracy 10%

Passively increases kunai parry 10%

Additional 10% increase for 15 seconds in STR when active.

**[Shuriken Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Shuriken usage in ranged combat.

Passively increases shuriken accuracy 20%

Additional 5% increase in ranged damage for 15 seconds when active.

"Nice one, Naruto," shouted Kiba, laughing heartily.

Naruto though was wide eyed. "It was an accident, I swear." He didn't know that would happen. He really didn't.

Iruka glared and threw another booklet at Naruto nailing him right between the eyes.

**You've obtained the skill book [Kunai and Shuriken Bukijutsu].**

**This skill has already been learned. Cannot learn again.**

Naruto glared at the pink warning closing it and setting the book on the desktop opening it to give the appearance he was reading it. Then it occurred to him that he'd learned the whole book instantly. He also learned that based on the book he'd been throwing kunai and shuriken wrong for years now. Apparently someone decided to teach him incorrectly years ago.

Naruto sat in his seat now glaring at the booklet and grumbling to himself about pranking Shugo-sensei so hard he'd never be able to show himself in public again.

"Okay, class, let's go outside and get to work on refreshing those bukijutsu skills," said Iruka, allowing the students to close their booklets only too happily.

Outside the group all stood in front of five target dummies, six people per line.

"Now, you will step to the line and throw five kunai then ten shuriken. After that, go to the end of your line. Everyone will get five chances to throw. We will take your best round for your grade," explained Iruka, a gold '?' appearing over his head a moment later.

**Quest Alert**

**Kunai and Shuriken Oh My: Score 80% or better**

**You have five attempts to throw 80% or better with Kunai and Shuriken**

**Completion Award: 400 Exp**

**Academy Kunai (10) and Academy Shuriken (20)**

**Completion Failure: 100 Exp**

Now this was Naruto's kind of quest. And with his newly acquired skills he was going to ace this test.

Naruto was third in his line and was excited to get to the line and show his stuff. He stepped up and threw. His first try he hit with four kunai and seven shuriken. He was miffed to have missed his quest requirement on his first try but was pleased to see he gained 10 Exp per kunai hit and 5 Exp per shuriken hit.

Naruto's second time up he hit with all five kunai but once again only six shuriken leaving him just about 7% short.

On Naruto third time up, he hit 86% completing the quest.

**You've hit the target mostly.**

**Completion Awarded: 400 Exp and Academy Kunai (10) and Academy Shuriken (20)**

Naruto was pleased only to get another alert right away.

**Quest Alert**

**My Personal Best: Score 90% or better**

**You have two attempts to throw 90% or better with Kunai and Shuriken**

**Completion Award: 1000 Exp**

**[Academy Intermediate Taijutsu] Skill Book**

**Completion Failure: 200 Exp**

If the last quest had him excited then this quest had him chomping at the bit.

**[Kunai Bukijutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

**Passively increases kunai accuracy 15%**

**[Shuriken Bukijutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

**Passively increases shuriken accuracy 25%**

"Yatta!" Shouted Naruto excitedly. Not only did he get a new quest after succeeding with his last one but he also gained a level with his two skills also increasing their passive accuracy buff.

Naruto waited practically bouncing with excitement once again to get a chance to beat this next quest.

Stepping up to the line Naruto let them rip hitting 85% again but gaining experience anyway.

"Okay, last try Naruto, do your best," said Iruka, watching from the side and keeping score as the students worked.

Naruto threw the kunai first hitting five for five. Then came the shuriken where hit eight for ten. "No," cried Naruto dropping to his knees again.

"That's an 86% Naruto, good job," said Iruka with a kind smile.

**Quest Failed**

**Completion Failure: 200 Exp.**

Naruto looked completely dejected.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto perked back up immediately at that news. So the failure sucks but a level up has to be good.

Naruto collected the practice weapons he threw and returned them to the teachers. He decided to wait until he got back to class to check out what his level did for him so that he could focus on it.

**Practice makes perfect causing your DEX to go up by 1.**

"Sweet," cheered Naruto excitedly. He was getting skills and stats like mad. If things kept up at this pace he'd max out his level in no time and then the Hokage title would be his.

"Okay, students, back inside for history," said Iruka, earning a groan from all the students.

Naruto was actually excited to get back to class so he could sit down and look more at this status screen and maybe even his skills if they have a menu for it.

Once inside a lecture began and Naruto tuned it out to check out his status page.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Academy Student(+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV4

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **700/700

**CP: **700/700

**STR: **10

**VIT: **20 (10)

**DEX: **6

**INT: **20 (10)

**WIS: **3

**LUK: **?

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill),** ? **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP perLevel),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: **5

**Ryo: **3500

Naruto wanted to scream in outrage. A level didn't give him any base stat increases, only points to spend. Such bullshit. Naruto knew that if he increased his DEX it would improve his accuracy which would have helped him with that last quest he failed. So Naruto hit the button four times bring it up to ten total points leaving him with one point. Seeing that WIS was his lowest he added a point to it hoping that if he brought himself more in balance then things would improve.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Academy Student(+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV4

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **700/700

**CP: **700/700

**STR: **10

**VIT: **20 (10)

**DEX: **10

**INT: **20 (10)

**WIS: **4

**LUK: **?

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill),** ? **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP perLevel),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **3500

Satisfied with his changes he tapped the accept button making the adjustment arrows vanish.

"Skills," he whispered next opening another orange window with a number of small thumb images with a name next to it, the type of ability, skill level and a brief explanation next to it.

**Gamer's Mind – Passive – Max – **Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows peaceful state of mind. Immunity to psychological status effect.

**Gamer's Body – Passive – Max – **Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game. After sleep in a bed he restores HP, CP and all status effects.

**Observe – Passive/Active – 2 – **Through continuous observation, a skill to observe objects, situations, and persons was generated that allows for quick information gathering. The higher the skill, the greater the data obtained.

**Kunai Bukijutsu – Passive/Active – 2 – **Passively increases Accuracy and Parry. When Active it increases strength.

**Shuriken Bukijutsu – Passive/Active – 2 –** Passively increases Accuracy. When Active it increases ranged damage.

**Trap – Passive – 1 – **Passively increase you skill when making and placing traps.

**Stealth – Passive – 1 – **Passively increases your skill when trying to sneak into and out of places. Passively increase your ability to avoid being tracked or spotted by others.

**Henge – Active – Max –** The perfect disguise is hard to come by but with a little chakra and some imagination you can become anyone or anything. A perfect transformation skill allowing you to become anyone or anything, this is a true transformation, not an illusion that most shinobi use.

**Kawarimi – Active – 2 – **Log, all praise that which is available only to save us from the direst of circumstances, amen. Used to change places with objects to prevent damage to one's self.

Naruto read his list of skills and while it wasn't long it was interesting. He tapped on the [Trap] skill to see if it gave more detail.

**[Trap (Passive) LV4 22.73%]**

Traps are an essential skill to any shinobi. They are used to surprise and confuse enemies and friends alike depending on the situation. They can be used both for fun and for slaughter equally well.

Passively increases Trap effectiveness 12.5%

Passively increases Trap damage 12.5%

Passively increases Trap placement 12.5%

Naruto nodded to himself as he read the details. He never thought of his ability to set a prank as laying the ground work for more effective traps.

He closed that window and tapped Stealth

**[Stealth (Passive) LV2 3.61%]**

Stealth is an essential skill to any shinobi. It is used to sneak and hide in equal parts so as not to be caught by friend or foe.

Passively increases Stealth infiltration 10%

Passively increases Stealth avoidance 10%

Passively increases Stealth concealment 10%

"Neat," Naruto mumbled to himself, finally closing the window entirely and trying to pay attention to the lesson at hand eventually nodding off anyway.

After History they all had lunch… well the other students had lunch, Naruto went back to the target range and practiced the two bukijutsu he had learned managing to gain to more levels for each gaining another 10% accuracy for both.

After lunch it was more classroom time, Naruto's favorite.

"So first, here is the review booklets for both squad tactics and academy taijutsu. I know it's more of the same from the last few years but clearly some of you have not taken to these lessons as well as you should have," said Iruka.

Naruto couldn't help but think that Iruka was speaking to him specifically.

Once again the two booklets offered Naruto the skill to learn but in an effort to avoid getting into trouble Naruto chose to hold off until after the academy let out to really dig into it.

Unfortunately that meant when they all went outside for Taijutsu practice, Naruto got his ass handed to him and ended up failing three more quests, one for each match. He still got some good experience from it and even gained another passive skill.

**[Physical Endurance] – Passive – 4 – **The body's durability increases, allowing for less damage taken. 4% decrease in damage taken by attacks.

It was painful to learn but he didn't have much choice. On the other hand he could still see where this would be a valuable skill later on.

Naruto finally left the academy around 4:00 pm. He'd spent an extra hour after class working on the target range gaining another level for the two bukijutsu and another 5% more accuracy to each. It also increased the active abilities this time.

**[Kunai Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) Lv5 Exp: 0.00% CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Kunai usage in both melee and ranged combat.

Passively increases kunai accuracy 25%

Passively increases kunai parry 10%

Additional 15% increase in STR when active.

**[Shuriken Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) Lv5 Exp: 0.00% CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Shuriken usage in ranged combat.

Passively increases shuriken accuracy 35%

Additional 7.5% increase in damage when active.

Now Naruto had another quest just burning a hole in his pocket.

Naruto rarely ever went into the basement of his apartment building simply because the chakra rats tended be both aggressive and disease ridden and he couldn't exactly afford a visit to the hospital. Now however, all he had to do was kill them all regardless if they poisoned him because he could just go to sleep and all the status ailments would be gone in the morning.

Stepping off the final step in the basement Naruto called them out. "Alright you, rat bastards. Time to clear you fuckers out of this place.

It was only a second later the first of the rats attacked. It darted out from under the steps just behind him and bit into his ankle.

Naruto yelped but turned quickly drove a kunai into the little bastard killing it with one hit. It was only level 1 so very easy to kill.

The next ten were not so easy to kill. They ranged from level 1 to level 4 so while some died in one hit most took between three and four hits to end.

After the twentieth kill he received a notice.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto barely had time to think about it before a king chakra rat appeared. It was level seven.

**King Chakra Rat Lvl 7**

**HP: 1000/1000 CP: 400/400**

**King Chakra Rat is the leader of a nest. He is the meanest of the bunch and bites the hardest but in his time as king has had the benefit of the largest portions causing him to gain excessive weight slowing him down significantly. **

Naruto was thankful for the information but not pleased by it. This was going to be one really mean rat. Naruto checked his own health quickly to see he was just above half but the poison he'd taken from the bites were slowly ticking his health downward.

"So you need to die quickly or I'm completely fucked. So bring it you fat bastard," said Naruto taunting the rat.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Through continuous trash talking, a skill to anger an opponent, 'Taunt' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

Naruto was surprised slightly to have learned such a skill but quickly closed the menu as the rat now looked really angry and seemed to have taken a red tint to it.

"Crap," said Naruto. "Red like that usually means rage. So you can only attack physically and only me but your damage will be increased as a result."

True to form, the rat charged straight at him.

Naruto rolled left just as the rat closed in on him and sliced the ugly bastard along his side dropping its health about 5% as he passed.

Naruto rolled back away from the rat to dodge the tail that swung rather suddenly like a whip. The rat turned around to look at Naruto again only to charge forward again.

Naruto repeated his roll slice and rolled away again. He didn't really have much ceiling clearance to be jumping around. In all this, the rat seemed to have a pattern and now Naruto had that pattern down pat.

It wasn't long before the rat was down to its last 25%.

The rat seemed to have lost its red aura and tried to run back to its hole.

"Oh no you don't," shouted Naruto. "Kunai Bukijutsu." He felt his arms strengthen instantly and pulled a second kunai and jumped forward driving both kunai as hard as he could into the back of the rat. One kunai went into its neck and the other into the head killing the rat finally.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Through creative use of kunai, a skill to counter attack an opponent, 'Roll Slash' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Through creative use of kunai, a skill to finish a weakened opponent, 'Double Pierce' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

"Nice," said Naruto. "Way to go me." Naruto checked his health to see he was just under half. His decision was really easy at this point. He quickly collected the tails from the dead rats and threw the bodies away. Then he ran up the stairs and turned in the tails as proof that he'd done the quest.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

"I'll deal with the levels in the morning, for now it's time to sleep," Naruto said to himself rushing for the stairs to get up to his room and into bed.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Academy Student(+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV6

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **900/900

**CP: **900/900

**STR: **10

**VIT: **20 (10)

**DEX: **10

**INT: **20 (10)

**WIS: **4

**LUK: **?

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill),** ? **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: **10

**Ryo: **3500


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto's eyes snapped wide open at hearing that chime. He smiled brightly at seeing the message. It was still happening meaning there was a chance this was all real.

"Yes!" he shouted springing up to his feet and his arms rose in celebration.

"Shut up!" shouted voices from the surrounding apartments.

Naruto though just grinned. He ran out to the living room, opened his bag and pulled out the two booklets that he knew to be skills books.

**You've obtained the skill book [Beginner Academy Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the 'Confirm (Y)' button.

**You've obtained the skill 'Beginner Academy Taijutsu'.**

**[Beginner Academy Taijutsu (Passive) Lv1 Exp 0.00%]**

Taijutsu or hand to hand combat is another essential skill for all shinobi to learn. The beginner level focuses on appropriate stances and basic strikes, kicks, and blocks.

Passively increases STR 5%

Passively increases VIT 5%

Passively increases DEX 5%

"Hell yeah," said Naruto, not too loudly though so he wouldn't bother his neighbors again.

Naruto took the next booklet out.

**You've obtained the skill book [Beginner Academy Tactics].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the 'Confirm (Y)' button. However instead of learning the skill a red error box popped up instead.

**You cannot learn this skill.**

**Required WIS: 10.**

Naruto groaned and set the booklet back down opening his status screen. Luckily he had points to burn at this point. He dropped six points in to WIS to get himself to the required 10 points. He then put the remaining four points into dexterity. He was going to get his accuracy up if it killed him. Quickly tapping the accept button and closing his status window he picked up the booklet again.

**You've obtained the skill book [Beginner Academy Tactics].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto rolled his eyes but tapped the 'Confirm (Y)' button anyway.

**You've obtained the skill 'Beginner Academy Tactics'.**

**[Beginner Academy Tactics (Passive) Lv1 Exp 0.00%]**

Team formations, ambush points, counter ambush and many other tactics.

Passively increases INT 5%

Passively increases WIS 5%

Naruto grinned and closed the window only to have another pop up.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Through learning academy tactics and taijutsu, a skill to improve group combat, 'Teamwork' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

"Now what the hell is this?" asked Naruto. "Skills."

The skills window had grown since yesterday to include the three new attacks and the new passive abilities he'd just learned.

**Taunt – Active – 1 – Trash talking at its best. This ability will enrage a weak willed opponent into attacking, causing them to focus on you to their own detriment. Opponent's damage dealt increases 25% and damage taken by 10%. Rage will fade when opponent HP drops below 25% or after 60 seconds.**

**Roll Slash – Active – 1 – A counter attack designed to dodge an opponent at the last moment by rolling past them and slashing at their side. 15% increase in critical chance. 25% increase in attack damage. Can only be executed with edged weapons.**

**Double Pierce – Active – 1 – A finishing move to inflict massive piercing damage on a weakened opponent. 50% increase in critical chance. 200% increase in attack damage. Can only be executed with knives.**

**Teamwork – Passive – 1 – Passively increases teamwork. While working with a team all team damage is increased by 10% when all members are attacking the same target.**

Naruto had to reread the [Teamwork] skill a few times because it was such a massive boost. The only downside is that it required a team of people and for the team of people to all focus on the same target.

"Okay, so I have a ton of shit to work on. Man, this is gonna be tough," complained Naruto. Huffing once in annoyance he closed out of the open windows and decided to go about his normal morning routine.

Once again he got the ten minute warning quest to make it to the academy on time which he happily accepted.

He arrived with almost a full minute to spare this time.

**Running for the goal has caused your STR to go up by 1.**

**Running for the goal has caused your VIT to go up by 1.**

**Running for the goal has caused your DEX to go up by 1.**

Naruto would have cheered again but just didn't feel up to it instead choosing to sit down and try to observe the rest of his classmates before the teacher showed up.

**Akimichi Chouji – Academy Student – Lvl 8**

**HP: **300/300

**CP: **100/100

**STR: **20

**VIT: **30

**DEX: **5

**INT: **10

**WIS: **10

**LUK: **4

**Akimichi Chouji is a member of the famed Akimichi clan known for their large frames and larger appetites. Capable of the unique body manipulation jutsu make them very powerful shinobi. Chouji is a very kind young man but has a short fuse in the event a certain three letter word is used around him.**

Naruto smiled, he'd liked Chouji when they'd hung out in the past. His description was quite fitting and gave Naruto a new appreciation for the rotund boy.

**Inuzuka Kiba – Academy Student – Lvl 9**

**HP: **200/200

**CP: **100/100

**STR: **15

**VIT: **20

**DEX: **15

**INT: **10

**WIS: **7

**LUK: **3

**Inuzuka Kiba is a member of the feral Inuzuka clan known for their close relationship with ninken. That close relationship has allowed their clan to develop very animalistic abilities and jutsu making them fierce combatants and excellent trackers. Kiba, though a son of the clanhead is fairly average for an Inuzuka.**

Naruto frowned a bit at Kiba's description. From what he could see of the stat, Kiba should have been a very powerful fighter. His stats were well balanced and he knew a good number of techniques from what Naruto remembered.

**Aburame Shino – Academy Student – Lvl 9**

**HP: **200/200

**CP: **150/150

**STR: **10

**VIT: **20

**DEX: **7

**INT: **15

**WIS: **15

**LUK: **2

**Aburame Shino is a member of the acclaimed Aburame clan known for their silent nature and appreciation of the little things. Known to host a colony of kikaichu within their bodies that make their techniques and abilities not just powerful but also extremely creepy. Shino is the heir to the clan and a very capable shinobi in training.**

Naruto tried not to shudder as he thought about sharing his body with anything like that. Still, Shino was pretty cool if a bit creepy.

**[Observe]'s level has risen by one.**

"Nice, just in time to look at the prick," said Naruto, chuckling to himself.

**Name: **Uchiha Sasuke

**Title: **Academy Student (+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV12

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **400/400

**CP: **460/460

**STR: **20

**VIT: **40

**DEX: **34

**INT: **46

**WIS: **32

**LUK: **1

**Status: Unawakened Sharingan **(+2 DEX &amp; +3 INT &amp; +1 WIS per Level),** Avenger **(+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi), **Firebug **(-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10 damage to katon jutsu)

**Uchiha Sasuke is the last loyal surviving member of the infamous Uchiha clan. Well known for their doujutsu the Sharingan which has allowed them to excel as shinobi in the field. His past is clouded by the pain and misery of losing his family so much that vengeance is all that remains to him.**

Naruto grumbled unhappily as he glared at the Uchiha's stats. The information his observe gave him now was kind of awesome but it didn't change the fact that he felt Sasuke was over-powered. It helped even less that the guy was a complete prick.

"Good morning, class," announced Iruka, entering the classroom followed closely by Mizuki.

There was an echoed "Good morning, sensei" from the students.

"So yesterday we reviewed more of the physical aspects of shinobi work. Today, we're going to focus on the more chakra related side of things," explained Iruka. "Before we start are there any questions?"

Naruto was quick to tune him out as he began lecturing on chakra and its yin and yang.

"Reputation," mumbled Naruto. He was curious about the reputation gains he'd made and what kind of impact they had.

**Reputation**

**Konohagakure – Hated – 15/1000**

**Landlord – Hated – 750/1000**

**Iruka – Friendly – 560/1000**

**Mizuki – ? – 1/1000**

**Sarutobi Hiruzen – Friendly – 950/1000**

**Konoha Merchant Guild – Hated – 5/1000**

** Ichiraku Ramen – Honored – 9000/10000**

** Akimichi Bakery – Hated – 15/1000**

** Higurashi Weapons – Neutral 500/1000**

** Konoha General Store – Hated 1/1000**

** Konoha Clothiers – Hated 1/1000**

** Yakiniku Q – Hated 5/1000**

** Farm Stand – Hated 1/1000**

** Surplus Arms – Hated – 1/1000**

**Konoha Twelve – Unfriendly – 990/1000**

**Uchiha Sasuke – Unfriendly – 550/1000**

** Haruno Sakura – Unfriendly – 10/1000**

** Nara Shikamaru – Friendly – 105/1000**

** Akimichi Chouji – Friendly – 150/1000**

** Yamanaka Ino – Neutral – 500/1000**

** Hyuuga Hinata – Honored – 6500/10000**

** Inuzuka Kiba – Friendly – 50/1000**

** Aburame Shino – Neutral 500/1000**

** ? ? – Neutral 500/1000**

** ? ? – Neutral 500/1000**

** ? ? – Neutral 500/1000**

Naruto wasn't really sure what to make of the info. It seemed he was mostly hated by everyone but a few he had regular contact with. At least there were some he was on friendly terms with, even a couple of honored.

Naruto tapped the '?' in the top left corner and similar to the status page a black box with yellow writing appeared but no arrows pointed to anything.

**Reputation is your status with various factions with the game world. A hated status will often have reduced or limited quest availability and increased cost of goods if they are even willing to sell to you. As your reputation improves you will have more quests available and reduced cost of goods if they have goods to sell.**

"Well that's some bullshit," groused Naruto to himself. It was soft enough to not be heard thankfully but did earn him a glance from Shikamaru who happened to be sitting next to him today.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled. "What are you doing now, Naruto?" he asked, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, just reviewing some stuff," said Naruto, hoping Shikamaru would drop it.

"Whatever," said Shikamaru, clearly seeing Naruto was hiding something. "Just don't get me involved in one of your pranks. It's too troublesome."

Naruto laughed nervously. "You got it."

The rest of the morning class was very boring and Naruto eventually joined Shikamaru in napping on the desk. Lunch found Naruto once more at the target range gaining one more level in his bukijutsu skills but gained no improvement in the passive or active skills. Even so he was feeling more comfortable and familiar with the weapons than he ever had in the past.

Naruto finished his last toss and went to collect his weapons. The first kunai he pulled loose snapped the tip off. "Shit, these things are terrible," he groaned out loud. "Hey, wait a second, what happened to the shuriken and kunai I got from that quest yesterday?"

Naruto used observe on the kunai and shuriken still stuck in the target.

**Dull and Rusted Kunai – **Old kunai do reduced damage and break easily. -5% damage &amp; accuracy. Stats: 1-3 Damage (melee), 3-5 Damage (ranged), DUR 1/25.

**Dull and Rusted Shuriken – **Old shuriken do reduced damage and break easily. -5% damage &amp; accuracy. Stats: 2-4 Damage (ranged), DUR 1/25.

Naruto growled. "Inventory."

A new orange window popped up for him showing several thumb size images, most of which were empty, and an image of his body overlaid with several thumb size images indicating his clothing and equipment.

"Cool," whispered Naruto, grinning like an idiot. Naruto tapped his jacket wondering what kind of stats it gave him.

**Orange Overstock Jacket – **Made of a thin lightweight material this jacket does not provide much protection from weapons or the elements. Stats: +5 DEF, -15% effectiveness to [Stealth], -5% reputation gains, +0.50 to speed, DUR 2/30

"What?" demanded Naruto loudly. "That's bullshit, again. This game is fucking broken, kami damn it."

Naruto closed the window in disgust and annoyance. He tapped the icon for his pants expecting similar, he wasn't wrong.

**Orange Overstocked Running Pants – **Made of a thin lightweight material these pants do not provide much protection from weapons or the elements. Stats: +7 DEF, -15% effectiveness to [Stealth], -5% reputation gains, +0.50 to speed, DUR 3/30.

Naruto tapped on his shoes next.

**Blue Academy Issue Shinobi Sandals – **Made of lightweight material these sandals are perfect for learners as they do not impede flexibility or chakra. Stats: +3 DEF, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], +0.50 to speed, DUR 10/30.

Then his goggles.

**Green Goggles – **High quality eye protection often used by doujutsu user to protect their eyes from damage in the field. Stats: +5 DEF, +10% effectiveness to [Observe], DUR 40/50.

That was better, Naruto thought. He could see his leg pouch had one slot with the damaged kunai assigned to it and his hip pouch had three slots with his shuriken taking up one of the slots and the other two were left empty.

Naruto looked over to his inventory and in the two occupied slots were the Academy Kunai (10) and Academy Shuriken (20). Naruto touched one and dragged it over top of the currently equipped item and they traded places. He quickly repeated the action with the other and closed his inventory.

Naruto lined up to try out his new weapons only to be interrupted with the KSA bell chiming the end of lunch.

Naruto trudged unhappily back to class, pouting the whole way because he didn't get to try out his new equipment. Speaking of new equipment, he'd definitely have to stop at one of the weapon shops in town to see if he could do anything about his running suit, he either needed to replace it, something he was dreading, or get it repaired. It would be a matter of what he could afford.

The positive of this was that he now knew of at least one store that he was Neutral with which meant not getting over priced goods.

"Welcome back from lunch, everyone," began Iruka. "Now, let's start with a review of the three basic academy jutsu."

Mizuki once again walked along the end cap handing a stack of scrolls to each student to pass down.

Naruto got his three scrolls.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Henge].**

**This skill has already been learned. Cannot learn again.**

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Kawarimi].**

**This skill has already been learned. Cannot learn again.**

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Bunshin].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

"Fuck it, I'm not getting my ass kicked again because I chose to wait until after school to learn something," said Naruto, tapping the 'Confirm (Y)' button.

**You cannot learn this skill.**

**Required WIS: 25% of CP.**

Naruto blinked, then blinked again. He had nine hundred CP the last time he checked and only ten WIS. He couldn't get close to that number if he tried, not with one of his status effects giving him +100 CP with every level. Even now he would need 225 WIS and that number would just keep going up.

"Ano, Iruka-sensei," said Naruto raising his hand.

"Yes Naruto?"

"I can't learn Bunshin," he said.

"Naruto, I'm sure if you put some real effort into it you could learn. Now stop causing scene," said Iruka, effectively dismissing him.

"But sensei," he tried to protest.

"What, Naruto?"

"I have too much chakra for it," he tried to explain.

"There is no such thing as too much chakra, Naruto. Only not enough control," said Iruka trying to placate him.

"So how do I improve my control," he asked.

"I've already taught you this, try to remember," said Iruka.

Naruto frowned. What did Iruka teach him before? "Was it that stupid leaf thing?"

"Yes, Naruto, that 'stupid leaf thing' is a very basic chakra control exercise," he explained. "I suggest you spend some time working on it if you want to improve your control enough to use Bunshin correctly.

Naruto groaned.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**You remember a past lesson that was previously disregarded. Chakra control 'Leaf Sticking' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

Naruto immediately opened his skills list and tapped the [Leaf Sticking].

**[Leaf Sticking (Passive/Active) Lv1 Exp 0.00% CP 15 per 5 seconds]**

Introductory chakra control exercise taught to all academy students. This exercise improves your chakra control the more you level it up.

Passively increases WIS 5%.

Naruto wasn't overly pleased with the exercise. Even if he maxed it out and gained a 100% bonus to his WIS it would still only give him 20 WIS total which wouldn't come close to meeting the requirements for Bunshin. And that was assuming the passive buff even went up that high.

"Right then," said Naruto. "Sensei, do you have a leaf?"

Iruka smiled kindly before taking a leaf out of his hip pouch and handing it to Naruto. "Here you go," said Iruka.

"You carry around leaves?"

"How do you think we leave behind leaves when we use shunshin?" asked Iruka.

"Really?" asked Naruto. "I mean . . . really?"

"Really," chuckled Iruka, nodding slightly.

"Huh, who knew," said Naruto, laughing a little himself before sticking the leaf to his forehead. "[Leaf Sticking]"

Naruto sat at his desk focusing on the leaf on his forehead while his CP continued to tick downwards rather rapidly. Just short of the five minute mark Naruto ended the skill allowing the leaf to float down and his CP start to recharge.

**[Leaf Sticking]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Leaf Sticking]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Leaf Sticking]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Leaf Sticking]'s level has risen by one.**

"Wow," said Naruto appreciatively. He'd gained four level in just five minutes.

**[Leaf Sticking (Passive/Active) Lv5 Exp 97.85% CP 10 per 5 seconds]**

Introductory chakra control exercise taught to all academy students. This exercise improves your chakra control the more you level it up.

Passively increases WIS 6%.

Naruto read the update and was not impressed. Sure, it cut down the cost of the skill but it only increase the passive buff by 1%.

Naruto ended up actually paying attention to class while watching his CP refill in his status screen.

An hour later the sensei began having each student practice the three techniques. Naruto received quests for each though the reward was very minor, only 200 Exp each for the two he could do and 100 Exp for the Bunshin he failed on and no bonus quests for succeeding.

Finally class ended and Naruto was set free for the afternoon with only one . . . make that two objectives in mind. First he needed to go to Higurashi Weapons and then he had a bowl of Ichiraku ramen with his name on it.

Higurashi Weapons was a small rundown looking shop at the end of the market district. According to the wooden sign hanging above the door they had been serving Konoha since the founding of the village.

Naruto cautiously stepped inside, allowing the door to close with a soft thud behind him and a jingle of a bell. There wasn't anyone readily visible to Naruto as he entered deeper into the shop.

"Hello," he called out cautiously.

"Be with you in a second," called gruff male voice from somewhere in the back.

Naruto looked around the shop knowing it was fairly safe for now. It turned out to be a veritable cornucopia of weapons and armor. His [Observe] was working overtime with everything he looked at.

"Now, what can I do for you?" asked the shopkeeper, setting down a large box with a heavy thud on the counter.

"Um, I need to see about getting some better gear or getting my current gear repaired," said Naruto, still unsure how the man would react.

"Well, fixing the crap you're wearing now shouldn't be a problem but I would strongly recommend burning it and let me tell you up front, I ain't touching that thing until it has been thoroughly washed and sanitized. That said, let's see if we can get you some decent gear. How much have you got to spend?"

"I only have 3500 ryo," said Naruto.

"I didn't ask how much you have. I asked how much can you spend? If I take all your money how will you eat? Pay your bills? Live?"

"Oh, um, then I guess about 1500," said Naruto. It was the money he'd been saving up to buy a new game but this was more important.

"Right, we should be able to get you some decent pants and a better jacket but not much more than that," said the shopkeeper.

"That works for me," said Naruto, finally starting to relax around the man.

Naruto took a moment to study the shopkeeper as he trundled through the narrow aisles. He was a large man, easily twice Naruto's height. He had a large gut but his arms were thicker than Naruto was and they were very well muscled.

"Here," said the shopkeeper, handing Naruto a pair of black pants. They looked like standard issue shinobi pant.

**Black Academy Issue Pants – **Made of a thin lightweight material and reinforced with light leather armor inside these pants provide reasonable defense. Stats: +15 DEF, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], +5 DEX, +0.50 to speed, DUR 60/60.

Naruto's [Observe] reported, making him very excited for try these on.

"Pick a jacket," said the shopkeeper holding up four different jackets.

**Black and Crimson Academy Issue Jacket - **Made of a thin lightweight material and reinforced with light leather armor inside this jacket provides reasonable defense. Stats: +12 DEF, +5 DEX, +5 STR, +0.50 to speed, DUR 60/60.

**Black and Navy Academy Issue Jacket - **Made of a thin lightweight material and reinforced with light leather armor inside this jacket provides reasonable defense. Stats: +12 DEF, +5 DEX, +5 STR, +0.50 to speed, DUR 60/60.

**Black and Olive Academy Issue Jacket - **Made of a thin lightweight material and reinforced with light leather armor inside this jacket provides reasonable defense. Stats: +12 DEF, +5 DEX, +5 STR, +0.50 to speed, DUR 60/60.

**Black Academy Issue Jacket - **Made of a thin lightweight material and reinforced with light leather armor inside this jacket provides reasonable defense. Stats: +12 DEF, +5 DEX, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], +0.50 to speed, DUR 60/60.

"Um, Black and Olive," said Naruto. It wasn't orange and while the Navy looked cooled, it would be a cold day in hell before Naruto dressed more like the Uchiha prick.

The shopkeeper nodded and tossed the jacket to him, hanging the others back up. "That's 1200 ryo total. You could probably get some cheap gloves or forearm or shin protectors with what you have left."

"Um, no thanks," said Naruto, deciding to quit while he was ahead.

The shopkeeper shrugged and led Naruto back to the counter of the shop where Naruto paid and thanked the man for his help.

"Before you go, my regular delivery girl is out on a mission. If you've got time I could use the help," offered the shopkeeper.

Naruto grinned at seeing the blue window pop up.

**Quest Alert**

**Deliver the Goods: Make the Higurashi weapons deliveries in place of the regular delivery girl.**

**Deliver the box to the Hokage tower in fifteen minutes or less.**

**Completion Award: 500 Exp**

**500 Ryo**

**Increase reputation with Higurashi Weapons**

**Completion Failure: 100 Exp**

**100 Ryo**

**Decrease reputation with Higurashi Weapons**

Naruto tapped the 'Confirm (Y)'.

"Great, take this box to the Hokage tower. Be careful, it's heavy. Oh, and make sure the receptionist signs for it."

Naruto picked up the box happily and ran out of the shop with it. As soon as he was out the door the timer popped up and began to count down. "Let's do this," he almost shouted as he took off at his top speed.

Nine minutes later Naruto had arrived at the tower and reported to the tower reception with the box. As soon as he got her to sign the form the timer stopped with 00:05:43 left on the clock.

**You've completed the delivery with time to spare. Return to Higurashi Weapon's to claim your reward.**

Naruto grinned and strolled out of the tower with a little bounce to his step.

"You made good time kid," greeted the shopkeeper when Naruto came in waving the signed form around.

"You bet I did," said Naruto.

**Completion Awarded: 500 Exp, 500 Ryo, +50 to reputation with Higurashi Weapon's.**

**Bonus Award: 500 Exp (100 Exp per minute remaining on timer), 500 Ryo (100 Ryo per minute remaining on timer) +250 to reputation with Higurashi Weapon's (50 reputation points per minute remaining on timer).**

"Good work, come back next week and I might have another delivery for you," said the shopkeeper.

Naruto finally bothered to look up at the man's name.

**Higurashi Hiten Lv ?**

"Thanks, Higurashi-san," said Naruto. That was awesome. He doubled his award just for being fast.

"Now get out of here, I'm closing up for the night."

Naruto said a quick farewell and departed the shop, eager to get home and try out his new clothes.

Once home, Naruto popped open his inventory and dropped the new clothes into the open slots and dragged them to his chest slot and legs slot. It was kind of a weird feeling as it happened but Naruto wasn't going to complain about it at all. After it was done he ran to the bathroom to check out his new look in the mirror.

"I make this look good," he complimented himself, grinning all the same.

Now Naruto had to figure out what to do with the rest of his evening. Obviously his plans for Ichiraku had changed so the first order of business was to get some instant ramen in his belly.

Naruto ended up eating a few bowls of instant 'Cup Ramen' for dinner, it wasn't exactly cooking but it would do.

The rest of the night was spent working on [Leaf Sticking] and video games in between while he waited for his chakra to replenish. By the time he passed out for the night he'd gained five more levels with it.

**[Leaf Sticking (Passive/Active) Lv10 Exp 63.82% CP 8 per 5 seconds]**

Introductory chakra control exercise taught to all academy students. This exercise improves your chakra control the more you level it up.

Passively increases WIS 8%.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto awoke with a wide grin on his face. Closing the sleep message and sitting up Naruto started his day the best way he knew how.

"Leaf Sticking," he said as he placed the leaf from his night stand to his forehead. A little more than 9 minutes later he cancelled the skill allowing the leaf to float free.

**[Leaf Sticking]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Leaf Sticking]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Leaf Sticking (Passive/Active) Lv12 Exp 43.12% CP 8 per 5 seconds]**

Introductory chakra control exercise taught to all academy students. This exercise improves your chakra control the more you level it up.

Passively increases WIS 8%.

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 5%.

"Hell yeah," said Naruto, not just pleased with the levels but also with the CP loss reduction for all of his other skills.

Naruto rushed through his morning routine and got outside into the open air ready for the day to kick off. Naruto noticed immediately that the streets were much more crowded than usual for this time of the morning. Then he remembered that today was the KSA induction day for new students.

Naruto charged a bit of chakra to his legs and leapt up to the nearest rooftop.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**You leap tall buildings in a single bound, movement 'Chakra Leap' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Chakra Leap (Passive) Lv1 Exp 0.00% CP 1 per 10 meters]**

Using chakra to reinforce your leg muscles you can now jump to incredible heights.

Additional jumping range when Active.

"Cool, but shouldn't that have already been a skill?" asked Naruto, pausing on the rooftop to read the description. "And does that mean it will use Chakra automatically?"

Naruto shrugged and ran for the roof ledge and made the leap to the next building. He watched his CP to see what would happen and it momentarily dipped before refilling almost immediately.

"Huh, that's interesting." Naruto shrugged again. He had to get to class and still had a ways to go. Pushing a bit of chakra into his legs again he began to run across the roof and leap to the next all the way to the academy.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**You run like the wind, movement 'Chakra Sprint' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Chakra Sprint (Active) Lv1 Exp 0.00% CP 20]**

Using chakra to reinforce your leg muscles to grant you a quick burst of speed.

Additional +20.0 to run speed for 10 seconds when Active.

"More skills that should have already been there. What is going on with this game?" Naruto asked, frowning in frustration. "I guess the game can't know everything but still, this is a bit silly."

Naruto dropped to the ground from the roof across from the KSA entrance landing with a soft thud.

**[Physical Endurance]'s level has increased by one.**

Naruto glance at his HP and saw that he did indeed take 10 points of damage from dropping off the roof. He'd honestly never even consider that dropping from a roof like that was hurting him because it was something all shinobi did regularly. On the other hand his HP had already recovered from the fall so it didn't really matter.

"Maybe I should use Chakra to reduce the fall damage?"

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**You can't hurt me, protective 'Chakra Reinforcement' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Chakra Reinforcement (Active) Lv1 0.00% CP: 100]**

Using chakra to reinforce your body can now protect you from taking some damage.

Additional 100 HP damage reduction when active.

Reinforcement lasts until -100 damage has been inflicted upon you.

"What? That's fucking awesome," said Naruto excitedly. "I didn't even have to try to use the chakra first, just thinking about it created it." Then Naruto took a moment to register his morning events. "Fuck! That's three more techniques I have to build up. Son of bitch."

Naruto groaned one more time before dragging himself inside the academy for what was bound to be a really long day.

Naruto ended up sitting through the day of class bored out his mind while Iruka droned on and on about history and the tactics he'd already learned completely from the skill book. He'd already drained his CP twice, once repeatedly using [Chakra Reinforcement] and once using [Leaf Sticking].

"Okay, time for lunch and the rest of today is conditioning," ordered Iruka.

Naruto grinned, he could totally get behind the conditioning plan but that would mean he definitely needed to eat lunch for a change.

Naruto got himself to Ichiraku as quickly as he could and happily sat to eat his favorite meal.

"Hello, Naruto-kun, haven't seen you much since academy classes started up again," commented Ayame.

"Just been busy, lots of training. I have to graduate this time or I'm out of the program," explained Naruto.

"Okay, just don't forget about us," said Ayame, smiling sweetly at the boy.

"Of course not, Ayame-neechan. I could never forget you guys. I meant to come yesterday but things got a bit crazy. Oh yeah, do you like my new clothes? I got them yesterday. I know they aren't as cool as my orange clothes but I think they're still pretty good."

"I have to say it's a major improvement," said Ayame, earning a gasp from Naruto. "Don't you gasp at me. I know you like orange and I know I'm not a shinobi but I can't imagine orange is a good color for the job."

"Yeah, you're right about that but I only found a shop that would sell me the good stuff yesterday," explained Naruto.

"Well then, you'd better not let your new clothes go to waste then. I expect you to graduate with flying colors come November or I'll cut off your ramen . . . permanently."

"Not that, anything but that," pleaded Naruto.

"Then I guess you'd better just make sure you graduate then, huh?"

"With ramen on the line you can consider it done," said Naruto.

"You'd better hit the road, Naruto," called Teuchi from the back of the stand. "It's ten to one."

"Thanks, Teuchi-san," said Naruto, quickly swallowing down the last of the broth and noodles. Naruto used his [Chakra Sprint] and [Chakra Leap] all the way back to the academy earning a level in both along the way.

Naruto made it back to class just in time for the Iruka to come in and lead everyone outside to the open training field.

"Now, I want twenty laps around the training field," ordered Iruka.

There was a loud groan from the class as they all began to move at a steady pace around the dirt track that had been well worn into the edge of the training field.

Naruto ran as ordered not really caring, it wasn't like it would tire him out at all. It was around lap fifteen that a blue window popped up.

**Your exercising pays off causing your VIT to go up by 1.**

Naruto grinned as he usually did whenever something good happened to him. This meant if he kept exercising his stats would keep going up like his skills went up as he trained them.

"Nice work, everyone. Now I want fifty sit-ups and twenty push-ups each," ordered Iruka.

Naruto dropped to the ground and began his sit-ups as ordered. That was one thing he did appreciate about his stamina, he never seemed to get tired. And it paid off again as on sit-up forty-five another blue window popped up.

**You feel the burn causing your STR to go up by 1.**

Grin . . . again.

Naruto finished the sit-ups and flipped over to start on the push-ups. This time a blue window popped up on the twentieth push-up.

**You feel the burn causing your STR to go up by 1.**

Naruto looked around to see most of his class was still doing their sit-ups with only a few on their push-ups except for the eight students Naruto identified as being higher level than the rest of the class.

Deciding he had more time, Naruto decided to do another set of sit-ups hoping to boost his STR a little more. Unfortunately after fifty he hadn't gained any more STR. So he flipped over and did the push-ups.

After two push-ups the blue box reappeared.

**You feel the burn causing your STR to go up by 1.**

Okay, he could work with this. It seemed that to get his STR to go up, he'd have to do more exercises per point. But that made him wonder if there was a cap. He'd already gained one point the previous morning from having to sprint to get to class and he'd just gained three more points. But could he gain infinite points?

"Hurry and finish up your sets. It's time for your favorite exercise of all, the obstacle course," shouted Iruka, calling the attention of all the students earning another round of groans from the students.

Naruto pushed through the push-ups he needed to complete his second set and popped up to his feet and got in line for the obstacle course. It really was Naruto's favorite exercise but most of the class dreaded it, partly because it was hard and partly because if you screwed up you'd probably end up dirty.

Naruto was pretty far back in the line because of his second set of push-ups so he used the time to work on [Leaf Sticking] while he waited. He'd drained most of his chakra working on it but didn't get a level which meant that he was getting less and less experience for his skills which meant it would be getting harder and harder to improve them as their levels got higher. So level capping his skills would be darn near impossible.

"Naruto, wake up, it's your turn," said Iruka, snapping his fingers in front of Naruto's face.

Naruto blinked and looked up at Iruka. "Huh? Oh, sorry about that. I was totally spacing."

"Just go," said Iruka, sighing and pointing at the obstacle course.

Naruto stepped up to the line and instantly a timer appeared in his peripheral reading 00:00:00.00. It definitely made Naruto curious but he could think about it later.

Naruto started off at a sprint toward the quintuple steps, a series of steps angled 45° toward a water pit, his foot barely touching each before landing on a small hill climb which ran up to a suspended log with a few grip holes. Naruto jumped onto the log gripping as hard as he could while the log glided down a rail track suddenly dropping every few feet trying to shake him loose. He then had to run across an unstable bridge with several platforms that would twist left or right if he stayed too long on any one of them. From there he had to grip a pole suspended by a series of pegs, known as a salmon ladder, and use the pole to jump up to the next peg and the next until he reached the top. At the top was a long board suspended over a water and mud pit. From the bottom of the board were several round metal bulbs just large enough to grip. Naruto grabbed the first and swung to the next grip and the next for about twenty meters until he reached another platform. He ran down a few steps to face a warped wall. A twenty meter tall wall of wood curved outward toward him. He ran as hard and as fast as he could up the wall hoping to gain purchase at the top. Once on top he sprinted fifty meters to the finish line.

Naruto's timer stopped just as he crossed the finish line showing 00:03:47.87.

**You bend and twist your way to the finish line causing your DEX to go up by 1**

Naruto though ignored the message while he tried to reclaim his breath, his hands firmly on his knees and gasping for breath. That course sucked today. The KSA was actually well known for their obstacle courses such that many chuunin still use them for training on a regular basis. They change regularly with new and different obstacles with the exception of the steps at the start and the warp wall and fifty meter sprint at the end.

Finally catching his breath Naruto took a minute to review the advantages of his conditioning day. Running laps, not sprinting, but running increased VIT. Push-ups and sit-ups increased STR. And the obstacle course increased DEX. Knowing this Naruto knew he'd have to spend time here more often trying to increase his stats as much as possible. That still left him with the question of whether or not there was a limit to how many stats he could gain through physical training.

"Good job, Naruto," said Iruka. "You came in fifth this time."

"Who beat me?"

"Sasuke, Kiba, Hinata, and Tomodo," answered Iruka.

A quick observe on each of them show they had higher DEX stats than he did. It also showed that Kiba had gained another level and was now level 10.

"I guess I'll have to work harder then, huh, sensei?"

"Keep working hard like you have this week and you'll definitely graduate this time," said Iruka, his normal kind smile adorning his face.

"Can I run it again?" asked Naruto.

Iruka looked at the sky and then at the line. "You can get back in line and you can try to squeeze one more run in but no promises."

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei," shouted Naruto, running back to the line.

Naruto did manage to run the course one more time but didn't get another point of DEX.

After school, Naruto could once again be found at the target range switching between [Leaf Sticking], [Chakra Reinforcement], [Kunai Bukijutsu], and [Shuriken Bukijutsu] skills trying to level them as much as possible. Naruto also noticed that hitting the target no longer granted him any experience toward his level.

Naruto continued this until his stomach grumbled that it was time for food. So he went for food then home and at home he continued to work [Leaf Sticking], [Chakra Reinforcement] but this time he did Sit-ups and Push-ups during the down time. He gained 2 more points of STR in the first four sets but the next five sets did nothing. He finally determined that he could only gain one bonus stat point per level. So the six points to STR was all he could get until he leveled again. This meant he could increase his VIT four more times and DEX three more times. He just needed time to work on it with all of his other skills to level.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto once again woke up excited to get to training his skills. Right away he drained nearly all of his CP working on [Leaf Sticking] before going through his morning routine.

Naruto decided that he could get his VIT level capped quickly enough by running to school every morning and taking a longer route depending on how much time he had. And that's exactly what he did.

"Good morning, class," greeted Iruka as he entered the class room. "So, we're back to our day one schedule so let's all try to improve."

Naruto tuned him out as he began talking about various uses of bukijutsu and the physics that can be applied. Instead he chose to once again drain his chakra to almost empty, this time on [Chakra Reinforcement] before setting his head down on the desk and closing his eyes until it was time to go outside for practice.

It didn't take long before they were outside at the practice range and much to Naruto's delight he got a quest alert immediately.

**Quest Alert**

**My Personal Best: Score 90% or better**

**You have five attempts to throw 90% or better with Kunai and Shuriken**

**Completion Award: 1000 Exp**

**[Intermediate Academy Taijutsu] Skill Book**

**Completion Failure: 200 Exp**

Naruto had to wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth at the thought of succeeding. He quickly tapped the 'Confirm (Y)' button and got himself in line.

Naruto's first time up he hit 93 only missing one shuriken hit.

"Yatta!" he shouted with joy.

**You've improved, well done.**

**Completion Awarded: 1000 Exp and [Intermediate Academy Taijutsu] Skill Book**

Naruto was super eager to get right into the book but was interrupted by another notification.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto grinned happily at that.

**Quest Alert**

**Perfection is its own reward: Score 100%**

**You have four attempts to throw 100% with Kunai and Shuriken**

**Completion Award: 2000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 500 Exp**

Naruto quickly tapped the 'Confirm (Y)' button and went to the back of the line to check out his new book.

**You've obtained the skill book [Intermediate Academy Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto impatiently tapped the 'Confirm (Y)' excited for the new skills.

**You cannot learn this skill.**

**Required STR: 20.**

**Required DEX: 20.**

**Required [Beginner Academy Taijutsu] LvMax.**

Naruto previous joy just crumbled into nothingness. He needed to attain a max skill level. How was he supposed to attain a max skill level? Stats wouldn't be a problem, he'd just gotten five from his leveling up plus he could train one more STR and four more DEX. But to get a max skill level in his beginner taijutsu? He was screwed.

Naruto decided to put three stat points into STR for now and one into DEX and think about what to do with the rest later.

Before he knew it he was up to throw again, another 93%. In fact all four of his tries were 93%, he'd always miss with at least one which really pissed him off.

The rest of the morning was boring history followed by lunch which found Naruto outside and running the obstacle course to try and gain a couple of DEX while he had the time. He did actually manage to gain two points before the end of lunch.

His improving his stats got him thinking. How could he go about improving his INT and WIS, especially his WIS?

It got him looking around the room and observing his classmates again only to see that Shikamaru' WIS was higher than the last time he checked but hadn't gained a level which meant he did something to increase it. The question is, what did he do?

"Hey Shikamaru," called Naruto softly, trying not to gain the ire of Iruka-sensei in the process.

Shikamaru turned his head a little to look at Naruto. "Yeah?"

"How did you get so smart? What do you do? Do you study a lot or something?"

"Che, troublesome," complained Shikamaru. "I don't really study unless I absolutely have to. I guess it's from playing so much Shogi."

"That's a board game right?"

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that," said Shikamaru. "Why did you want to know?"

"Think you could teach me how to play?"

"Troublesome," whined Shikamaru again. "I guess I can teach you after school today. Just don't do anything troublesome."

"Really? Thanks a lot, Shikamaru. I'll owe you big time for this," said Naruto, smiling from ear to ear.

"Whatever, I'm going back to sleep until it's time for taijutsu practice."

Naruto couldn't wait for the day to end, hopefully learning Shogi from Shikamaru would help him increase his WIS. That still left him with his INT problem but with his strange status buff giving him VIT and INT with every level he didn't really need to worry about it unless that buff suddenly vanished on him.

So Naruto once again drained his chakra training his skills while waiting for taijutsu practice to start. Two more levels to his [Chakra Reinforcement] and it was time for taijutsu.

When time for taijutsu practice came Naruto was disappointed when he didn't get a quest of any kind. He did just gain a level so maybe he exceeded the max level for the taijutsu quests. Either way Naruto was miffed.

Naruto found himself standing across from one of the civilian kids name Midori Tomodo for his first match of the day.

**Midori Tomodo Lv6**

**HP: **150/150

**CP: **50/50

**STR: **10

**VIT: **15

**DEX: **20

**INT: **5

**WIS:** 5

**LUK: **2

**Midori Tomodo is a civilian born academy student. While moderately skill in taijutsu, he is severely lacking in other aspects of the shinobi arts.**

So Naruto was stronger than him and just slightly less dexterous. Naruto figured based on that information it would be a fairly even fight.

They bowed to each other then settled into an academy basic stance, Naruto in a defensive back stance and Tomodo in an aggressive front stance. Naruto wanted to see how Tomodo fought before trying to attack him.

"Hajime," called Iruka.

Tomodo wasted no time in springing forward at Naruto with a flying round house kick to the head.

Naruto's arm shot up parrying the kick but still managing to break through the block and knocking him slightly off balance.

Tomodo followed up his kick with punch to Naruto's stomach making solid contact and causing Naruto to grunt in pain at the hit.

Naruto quickly counter with a stomp kick to Tomodo's shin causing the boy to drop to one knee. Seeing his opponent down, Naruto attacked with a knee strike, missing Tomodo's face but still hitting his shoulder hard enough to knock the boy out of the ring.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto," called Iruka.

Naruto wanted to celebrate his first win in a while but instead bowed as was proper and stepped out of the ring.

**[Beginner Academy Taijutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Beginner Academy Taijutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

Naruto finally did celebrate. "Yatta!" Not only did he win the fight against one of the better taijutsu users he also leveled his [Beginner Academy Taijutsu] twice. It was a triple win if you asked Naruto's opinion.

Naruto had two more fights that day, one against another civilian student named Ito Momo and another against Inuzuka Kiba. He beat the civilian like a drum but lost to Kiba if just barely. Either way he gained another level in taijutsu.

Class for the day ended with the last match in which Sasuke mercilessly destroyed Tomodo. It made Naruto respect Sasuke's skill a little but still detest him as a person.

"Yo, Naruto, you ready?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yeah, let's go," said Naruto. He was excited to hang out with Shikamaru for a bit.

"Yeah, yeah," said Shikamaru, yawning lazily.

Together they walked to a hilltop park a kilometer from the KSA. There were a bunch of Shogi tables spread around, some of them occupied but mostly empty.

Shikamaru guided him to one of the larger tables with a canopy over top of it. He sat down and pulled out a scroll and unsealed a small box containing the game pieces. He then set up the table for the game.

"Do you know anything about the game, Naruto?" asked Shikamaru.

"I know nothing about it," answered Naruto honestly. "Never played before and never have been shown how to play before."

"Troublesome," complained Shikamaru. Then he launched into a long and drawn out explanation of each piece and how each piece moves and how to promote each piece before finally explaining captured pieces. Then he showed Naruto a couple examples before finally allowing Naruto to play a game with him.

"You lose," said Shikamaru, it took less than twenty moves.

"What? Already?" asked Naruto, not fully understanding. "Damn it, again."

"You lose," said Shikamaru, twenty minutes later. This time the game took about thirty moves. "You did better but you're still learning."

"No kidding," said Naruto, groaning in defeat. "Another game?"

"Sure," said Shikamaru.

And so another game started and about halfway through Naruto got his first pop up message.

**[Beginner Academy Tactics]'s level has risen by one.**

**You worked smarter not harder causing your WIS to go up by 1**

Naruto would have cheered if not for him trying to focus on the game. He was losing, quite badly but it was still better than the previous game.

"You lose," said Shikamaru, smirking a little. "That's it for me today. I've got get home or my mom will nag at me. But if you want, we could play again another day."

"I'd like that."

"Cool, make sure you buy your own pieces for next time," said Shikamaru. "I know you're new to the game but it is good etiquette to provide your own pieces."

"Where can I buy a set?"

"Konoha General Store should sell them," said Shikamaru, shrugging as he wasn't very sure.

Naruto couldn't help cringing. "Um, they don't really like me there."

"Troublesome, I'll pick up a cheap set for you. You can pay me back," offered Shikamaru.

"Thank you again," said Naruto. "I really appreciate it, Shikamaru."

"Maybe next time you won't prank them so much," he suggested, then walked away at a lazy gate.

"Now, it's time for me to get to work. I need one more point of DEX and STR," said Naruto to himself, feeling the excitement and enthusiasm building.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru's walk away from the blonde enigma was all but enthusiastic. He was glad his pseudo-friend was taking an interest shogi but it was definitely unusual for the blonde prankster. Something had changed in Naruto and it seemed to be a recent change. The question was, what caused the change and how troublesome was it going to be in the future. "Troublesome," he grumbled, yet again.

Shikamaru's walk home was as sedate as usual. Upon entering the house he was nagged immediately by his mother, first for coming home late, then for not taking the trash out that morning before he left for school, and then to do his homework and go out and feed the deer followed by training in the family hijutsu.

Two hours later, his chores were done and his homework was ready to turn in. Shikamaru found himself sitting at his family's dinner table.

"So why were you late coming home from Academy today?" demanded Yoshino.

"A friend from school wanted me to teach him how to play shogi," answered Shikamaru, lazily pushing his tofu with his hashi (chopsticks).

"What friend?" asked his father.

"Naruto wanted to learn. I didn't really see the problem with it," answered Shikamaru.

"Hmm, interesting," said Shikaku, while Yoshino just frown.

"You'd better not pick up any of his bad habits," stated Yoshino strictly.

"Troublesome," complained Shikamaru.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto was a bit slower to wake up the fifth morning after his gamer ability showed up. Maybe the initial excitement of it had worn off or maybe he just didn't sleep well. Whatever the case, he felt more back to normal either way.

After leaving Shikamaru the previous afternoon, Naruto returned to the training field earning a point of VIT as he ran there and then gaining that last point of STR and DEX to get his stats where they needed to be to learn [Intermediate Academy Taijutsu] minus the LvMax he needed in [Beginner Academy Taijutsu].

"Status," Naruto said as he yawned and stretched to wake himself up a bit more.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Academy Student (+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV7

**Affiliation: **Konoh**a**

**HP: **1031/1031

**CP: **1010/1010

**STR: **20 (6)

**VIT: **23 (11.15)

**DEX: **20 (11)

**INT: **20 (11)

**WIS: **12 (1.68)

**LUK:** ?

**DEF: **35 (2.1)

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill),** ? **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Prankster** (-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **3300

All told it wasn't too bad at all. He'd made some rather impressive strides in the last week. However, Naruto already noticed that the quests had dried up at the academy. He wasn't getting experience from his taijutsu matches or target practice. The only quest he had pending at this time, assuming it showed up again, was the kunai and shuriken mastery and possibly another delivery quest next week at Higurashi Weapons.

Naruto quickly found out how right he was. For the next three months his class pattern repeated. Day one, shuriken and kunai practice followed by taijutsu practice. Day two, chakra lecture followed by jutsu practice including Bunshin which Naruto couldn't do without putting some major progress into WIS, something he just wasn't willing to sacrifice that many stat points to achieve. Day three, more lectures followed by conditioning, something he'd already capped until he leveled again. At least on day three he'd spend time playing Shogi with Shikamaru, even after he'd hit his WIS bonus stat cap he kept playing because he'd started to become better friends with Shikamaru and as an added bonus it increased his [Beginner Academy Tactics] skill. And then of course it would start all over again with day one. At least on weekends he could focus strictly on improving his skill levels from the start of the day to the end of the day, minus time for meals and sleep of course.

So despite the lack of leveling, he'd significantly increased the levels of his skills, or at least the skills he tried to focus on most.

**[Chakra Reinforcement (Active) Lv18 92.74% CP: 100]**

Using chakra to reinforce your body can now protect you from taking some damage.

Additional 280 HP damage reduction when active.

Reinforcement lasts until 280 damage has been inflicted on you.

**[Leaf Sticking (Passive/Active) Lv22 Exp 16.52% CP 5 per 5 seconds]**

Introductory chakra control exercise taught to all academy students. This exercise improves your chakra control the more you level it up.

Passively increases WIS 9%.

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by by 8%.

**[Beginner Academy Taijutsu (Passive) Lv9 Exp 99.97%]**

Taijutsu or hand to hand combat is another essential skill for all shinobi to learn. The beginner level focuses on appropriate stances and basic strikes, kicks, and blocks.

Passively increases STR 5%

Passively increases VIT 5%

Passively increases DEX 5%

**[Beginner Academy Tactics (Passive) Lv7 Exp 15.72%]**

Team formations, ambush points, counter ambush and many other tactics.

Passively increases INT 5%

Passively increases WIS 5%

**[Kunai Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) Lv15 Exp: 85.07% CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Kunai usage in both melee and ranged combat.

Passively increases kunai accuracy 35%

Passively increases kunai parry 20%

Additional 15% increase in STR when active.

**[Shuriken Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) Lv15 Exp: 85.07% CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Shuriken usage in ranged combat.

Passively increases shuriken accuracy 45%

Additional 15% increase in damage when active.

So here he was again on day one of the rotation, just going through the motions, eagerly waiting to get to kunai and shuriken practice to try to finally get a perfect score on that damned cursed quest.

**Quest Alert**

**Perfection is its own reward: Score 100%**

**You have five attempts to throw 100% with Kunai and Shuriken**

**Completion Award: 2000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 500 Exp**

Naruto growled at the quest text quickly hitting the 'Confirm (Y)' button and stepping into line. Between this quest once or twice a week and his delivery quest for Higurashi Weapons he was barely clearing 1000-1500 Exp a week and an extra 500 per month for his landlord's rat problem which still left him with no idea how long it would be before he leveled again.

Naruto had to shake his head to clear his mind of his current frustrations with the game that his life had become and focus on the target in front of him. Just yesterday he'd hit level 15 with both his bukijutsu skill, hopefully that would be enough to hit 100% this time.

Kunai went five for five then shuriken nine for ten. A huff and growl escaped Naruto as he went to the back of the line to wait his next attempt.

The next three went much the same way except that the third attempt awarded him with some benefit.

**[Kunai Bukijutsu]'s level has increase by one.**

**[Shuriken Bukijutsu]'s level has increased by one.**

**[Kunai Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) Lv16 Exp: 0.02% CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Kunai usage in both melee and ranged combat.

Passively increases kunai accuracy 35%

Passively increases kunai parry 25%

Additional 15% increase in STR when active.

**[Shuriken Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) Lv16 Exp: 0.02% CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Shuriken usage in ranged combat.

Passively increases shuriken accuracy 50%

Additional 15% increase in damage when active.

Naruto prayed the whole wait back to the front of the line that this would be enough to hit the mark.

Kunai went five for five again. The first nine shuriken hit their mark. Naruto only had the one throw left. Naruto took a deep breath in and out, stared down the target then quickly flicked his wrist sending the last shuriken cutting through the air. After what felt like a lifetime there was a sharp 'thunk' as the last shuriken stuck dead center of the target.

"Yatta!" shouted Naruto, jumping and pumping a fist into the air. "Finally, I've made you my bitch now you stupid targets."

"Well done Naruto," said Iruka.

**Perfect!**

**Completion Awarded: 2000 Exp**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

"Yatta!" Naruto shouted in joy yet again. "Finally, fuck I never thought it would happen. Took freaking long enough."

"What took long enough?" asked Shikamaru curiously, despite knowing he probably should get involved with whatever troublesome thing Naruto had gotten into.

"I got a perfect score," answered Naruto, a slight nervous quaver in his voice.

"Fine, don't tell me. It's probably troublesome anyway," said Shikamaru.

That made Naruto frown. He hadn't told anyone about his gamer ability yet, not even the old man and he was like family, not that he'd seen much of him the last few months. But Shikamaru had proven himself smart and reliable in spite of his outwardly lazy attitude. Naruto counted him among the few true friends he really had. His reputation bar even said they were closer friends than they had been when they started playing shogi together.

"Well, are you free after class today?" asked Naruto. "It's hard to explain so it might take a while."

Shikamaru studied him briefly before finally nodding. "Alright, we can go up to the academy roof to talk."

"Cool," said Naruto, finalizing his decision.

"For now, we should probably head back in before Iruka-sensei's head explodes," joked Shikamaru.

Naruto nodded and followed him back inside.

The afternoon lecture proceeded as expected before taijutsu practice.

Naruto got paired again with Tomodo first and absolutely beat the crap out of him inside of two minutes.

**[Beginner Academy Taijutsu]'s level has increase by one.**

The message popped up as soon as Naruto excited the ring after being declared the winner. The one downside Naruto had noticed with the [Beginner Academy Taijutsu] skill was that even though it gained levels it didn't increase his passive abilities at all. Naruto still opened the menu to see if it changed at all now that it finally hit level ten.

**[Beginner Academy Taijutsu (Passive) LvMax]**

Taijutsu or hand to hand combat is another essential skill for all shinobi to learn. The beginner level focuses on appropriate stances and basic strikes, kicks, and blocks.

Passively increases STR 5%

Passively increases VIT 5%

Passively increases DEX 5%

Naruto blinked several times. He hit the level cap for that skill at level ten, not one hundred like he'd assumed. That meant that maybe some of his other techniques capped at a certain point too.

Naruto quickly opened his inventory and took out the [Intermediate Academy Taijutsu] skill book.

**You've obtained the skill book [Intermediate Academy Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto pushed the 'Confirm (Y)' button.

**You've upgraded you skill 'Beginner Academy Taijutsu' to 'Intermediate Academy Taijutsu'.**

**[Intermediate Academy Taijutsu (Passive) Lv10 Exp: 0.00%]**

Taijutsu or hand to hand combat is another essential skill for all shinobi to learn. The beginner level focuses on appropriate stances and basic strikes, kicks, and blocks. The intermediate level adds a few stances, strikes, kicks, and blocks as well as a few holds to your hand to hand combat skills.

Passively increases STR 7.5%

Passively increases VIT 7.5%

Passively increases DEX 7.5%

Naruto couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face. He finally understood the taijutsu skill set. It would level to a point and then he'd have to upgrade it to the next level if he wanted to progress it any further. That would probably end up being the case with [Beginner Academy Tactics] skill as well. This also meant he'd have to find the necessary skill books or find someone willing to train him in the skill if he wanted to learn higher levels of those skills.

"Naruto, you're up," called Iruka, interrupting his train of thought.

Naruto rushed into the ring to find himself facing off with Sasuke who was now level 13.

"Observe," Naruto mumbled wanting to know what he was up against.

**Name: **Uchiha Sasuke

**Title: **Academy Student (+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV13

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **400/400

**CP: **490/490

**STR: **23

**VIT: **40

**DEX: **39

**INT: **49

**WIS: **33

**LUK: **1

**Status: Unawakened Sharingan **(+2 DEX &amp; +3 INT &amp; +1 WIS per Level),** Avenger **(+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi),** Firebug **(-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10 damage to katon jutsu)

**Uchiha Sasuke is the last loyal surviving member of the infamous Uchiha clan. Well known for their doujutsu, the Sharingan which has allowed them to excel as shinobi in the field. His past is clouded by the pain and misery of losing his family so much that vengeance is all that remains to him.**

Naruto couldn't help cringing. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, Sasuke was a bad ass shinobi in training.

**[Observe]'s level has increased by 1.**

"Hajime," called Iruka.

Naruto immediate dropped into a defensive stance and had to block a nasty series of spear hand strikes pushing him back near the edge of the ring. He couldn't help wincing at the sting in his forearms from blocking. Unfortunate he didn't have time to think about it as Sasuke moved to attack again.

"[Roll Slash]," Naruto mumbled, hoping it might work. Naruto immediately rolled under the next strike and slashed at Sasuke with an empty hand accomplishing nothing but avoiding the attack.

"Crap," whined Naruto. It was a risky move and it did manage to keep him in the ring but it did nothing to damage Sasuke even slightly. Unfortunately, it did nothing to slow Sasuke down either because the boy managed to turn around faster than Naruto could come out of his roll so that when Naruto turned around he took a brutal kick to the face not only stunning him but knocking him into the air and well clear of the ring.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke."

"That looked like it hurt," said Shikamaru, holding out a hand to help Naruto back to his feet.

Naruto had to shake his head out a couple of times to clear the fuzziness away from his vision. "Yeah, it hurt. That teme is a fucking machine. Kami damned overpowered Uchiha bull shit."

"Yeah, he is a bit overpowered for the academy and probably should have graduated last year. Apparently the council decided to reject his application to graduate early because they didn't want a repeat of his psychopathic brother to occur," explained Shikamaru.

"Sasuke's brother is a psychopath?"

"Yeah, killed the entire clan off except for Sasuke. It really fucked him up."

"That's why he has the Avenger status then," Naruto mumbled, not really thinking about Shikamaru being there.

"Avenger status?" asked Shikamaru. "What do you mean?"

"It is part of what I want to tell you about later," Naruto answered, hoping Shikamaru could wait until then.

"Ah, that's fine," said Shikamaru, but it was clear from the look on his face he rapidly trying to work through what he'd just heard and make sense of it. Somehow Naruto knew Sasuke was an avenger but had no idea why. "Troublesome."

Naruto finally wandered back to watch the other fights after his head felt right again. A lot of them the members of the Konoha Twelve kicking the crap out of the civilians and very rarely each other.

Naruto's last match was against a level 4 civilian that was easily defeated. The one cool thing is that he won by causing his opponent to tap out because of one of the new holds he learned.

Best of all, it earned him a level to his [Intermediate Academy Taijutsu] skill.

Once again the day finally ended but instead of going to train, Naruto went up to the academy roof to have his conversation with Shikamaru, probably his closest friend at this point.

"So, what changed?" asked Shikamaru.

Naruto frowned for a moment. "So, have you ever played video games?"

"A few times at Kiba's, never was my thing really," answered Shikamaru. "It's too much effort for way too little reward."

"Well, I like them. In fact, playing video games is one of the few things I can do for fun in this village. You may have noticed that I'm not well liked."

"Okay, what's your point?"

"So a few months ago I woke up and my life had become a video game," answered Naruto, not really sure how Shikamaru would react.

"I see," said Shikamaru.

"I'm serious," said Naruto. "Watch." Naruto opened his inventory and pulled out his old jacket from the inventory space.

"That looks like time-space jutsu," said Shikamaru, trying to understand what he just saw.

"I don't know how it works, just that it does," Naruto replied as he put the jacket back into his inventory.

"So what, you have levels and stats and stuff?" asked Shikamaru.

"Exactly," said Naruto.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed. "Alright, give me details so I can understand this a bit better."

So for the next hour Naruto broke down the entire game life system from leveling to his skills, to training to increase his stats.

"So for every level you gain you can increase your base stats by one through training?"

"Yeah, that's why I asked you to teach me Shogi. It worked to increase my WIS stat."

"That seems a bit backward, that WIS would affect your chakra control and learning while INT impacts you chakra pool and jutsu strength."

"It doesn't make much sense to me either but those are the stupid game's rules," said Naruto, frowning. It didn't make much sense but at the same time it made some sense to him even if just a little.

"So what are your current stats and level compared to mine?" asked Shikamaru.

"Observe," said Naruto, looking directly at Shikamaru.

**Name: **Nara Shikamaru

**Title: **Academy Student

**Level: **LV9** Next Level:** 7.09%

**HP: **110/110

**CP: **160/160

**STR: **8

**VIT: **11

**DEX: **11

**INT: **16

**WIS:** 41

**LUK: **3

**Staus: Lazy Genius **(+5 WIS per Level, -1 STR, -1 VIT, -1 DEX),** Shadow Element **(Able to manipulate and control shadows, -15% cost to kage jutsu, +10 control to kage jutsu),** Natural Leader **(+25% to experience gain to [Advanced Tactics] Skill)

**Nara Shikamaru is a member of the famed Nara clan known for their intellect and laziness. The unique ability to manipulate shadows makes them rather versatile shinobi. Shikamaru is by far the smartest Nara born in many generations and in turn is also the laziest.**

Naruto read off the stats for Shikamaru.

"Troublesome," he said, pulling out a pad of paper. "Read that to me again."

Naruto did.

"Okay, now read me your stats."

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Academy Student (+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV8** Next Level: **6.43%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **1169/1169

**CP: **1110/1110

**STR: **20 (6.50)

**VIT: **25 (11.88)

**DEX: **20 (11.50)

**INT: **20 (11.00**)**

**WIS: **15 (2.10)

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **35 (4.2)

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill),** ? **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: **5

**Ryo: **9000

Naruto read off the stats noticing that he now had a 'Next Level' stat which he immediately found helpful.

"You're really troublesome, you know that right?"

"I've heard something along those lines," said Naruto, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"So, you gained a level earlier today and can now add one more stat point to each of your stats except VIT which can gain three more and INT which can gain eight more, is that right?"

"Yeah, I think so, it's hard to keep track sometimes," answered Naruto. "It's a lot of shit you know."

"Yeah, I can see that. Well, I would suggest you get your WIS up to twenty for now just to level the playing field. To become genin we need to be well balance in all fields. That said you don't really need to waste any points in VIT and INT so long as you have that '?' status buff giving you plus a hundred to you HP and CP every level."

"Do you know what that '?' could be? And how come you're not very well balanced?"

"Probably a kekai genkai or something similar," answered Shikamaru, a frown still marring his face. "You might want to go to the library or something to read up on it. As for my stats being imbalanced, with the exception of WIS they are pretty close. It just means I should probably do some of the troublesome training you are to bring them up a bit. What a drag."

"Um, my reputation is 'Hated' with the library. They probably won't let me in."

"Why are you 'Hated'? What did you do to them?"

"Nothing, I've never pranked the library in my life. Hell, I don't even know where the library is. You'd be freaking amazed at just how many place and people hate me. And these are people I've never met or places I've never been to. It's completely retarded."

Shikamaru groaned and sighed at the same time. "You're troublesome. So very troublesome. Fine, I'll look into it for you for now at least but you're going to have to fix that reputation on your own."

"Supposedly I can do quests for them but I've yet to see even one. Which usually means my level isn't high enough or a special event has to occur first to unlock the quests," explained Naruto, he actually knew quite a bit about video games and their various mechanics.

"That makes some sense. I imagine most of those places give quests only as a mission which means you have to make genin first."

"That . . . kind of makes sense," said Naruto, it wasn't something he'd previously given much thought to.

"Right, so for now, all you can do is grind the few quests that are available and your skills until they cap. At least until you become a genin."

"Assuming I can graduate. I still can't do Bunshin and according to the skill book I've got to have crazy high WIS to learn it with my current CP. It's totally jacked up."

"Yeah, I can see where that CP is going to cause you trouble in the future. You could maybe learn a different Bunshin but I wouldn't even know where to start with something like that." Shikamaru rubbed his face with both hands as he tried to figure out the best course of action to help his friend.

"So now you know my secret. And even though it's 'troublesome', you have to admit it is pretty cool right?"

"Yeah, it's not bad. It would certainly make things interesting." Shikamaru smirked. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Keep training, keep doing my quests. Try to find the skill books for [Advanced Academy Taijutsu], [Intermediate Academy Tactics], and [Advanced Academy Tactics]. I hope that I can get those learned by the time graduation rolls around or I may well be totally screwed."

"I know I have extra copies of the tactics books at home," Shikamaru volunteered. "But you're on your own for the taijutsu."

"Really, that would be awesome, Shikamaru."

"Sure, sure," said Shikamaru, waving him off.

"So, do you have time to play some shogi?"

"I wish, but I'd better get home. My mother is going to be a nag as it is."

"Alright then, see you tomorrow, man."

"See you," said Shikamaru.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Another three months had come and gone for Naruto. Having Shikamaru in on his 'gamer life secret thing' proved to be a really boon. He even figured out what it took to raise his INT stat much to his frustration, he had to pay attention in class and study. It was not ideal but it worked and pushing him even further from learning Bunshin than he was before.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Academy Student (+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV8** Next Level: **96.82%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **1201/1201

**CP: **1201/1201

**STR: **21 (6.58)

**VIT: **28 (12.10**)**

**DEX: **21 (11.58)

**INT: **28 (12.10**)**

**WIS: **21 (3.68)

**LUK: ?**

**DEF: 35 (5.25)**

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill), **? **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster** (-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **15000

On a positive note he'd level capped [Leaf Sticking], [Kunai Bukijutsu], [Shuriken Bukijutsu], and moved onto [Intermediate Academy Tactics].

**[Leaf Sticking (Passive) LvMax]**

Introductory chakra control exercise taught to all academy students. This exercise improves your chakra control the more you level it up.

Passively increases WIS 10%.

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 10%.

**[Kunai Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) LvMax CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Kunai usage in both melee and ranged combat.

Passively increases kunai accuracy 50%

Passively increases kunai parry 25%

Additional 20% increase in STR when active.

**[Shuriken Bukijutsu (Passive/Active) LvMax CP: 5]**

Weapon's technique specific to Shuriken usage in ranged combat.

Passively increases shuriken accuracy 50%

Additional 25% increase in damage when active.

**[Intermediate Academy Tactics (Passive) Lv13 Exp 52.82%]**

Team formations, ambush points, counter ambush and many other tatics.

Passively increases INT 7.5%

Passively increases WIS 7.5%

It was just enough improvement to feel like he'd really accomplished something, now if only he could freaking level again. That was by far the most annoying part of this.

The good news on the level front is that today was another delivery quest day for Higurashi Weapons. And if it went well then he'd be honored with the shop and that would get him 15% off everything in the shop which means it would be time to go on a spending spree. But best of all it should be just enough to get him to level 9.

**Higurashi Weapons – Friendly 950/1000**

It was now June and the weather had turned quite hot in Hi no Kuni and Naruto was feeling it, especially in his busted ass apartment his now 'unfriendly' landlord still wouldn't fix for him.

**Landlord – Unfriendly – 150/1000**

Still, all that considered, things were looking up. He had five months until his graduation exam and at his current rate he should be at least level 10 and if he's really lucky, level 11.

First things first, he had to get through today.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

"Good morning, class," said Iruka, entering the room carrying a large box with him. That was something Naruto hadn't seen him with previously.

"Okay, so time for a little change up in our routine. To start, no more bukijutsu lectures. If you don't get by it now you probably never will. There will only be practice and that practice will be moved to the mobile range from today to graduation. Day two will be switched to stealth theory and practice in place of chakra theory. And on day three we'll be integrating trap theory and techniques, so we'll be shortening tactics lessons. Any questions before we get started?"

"What do you mean mobile range?" asked Sakura.

"We will be using the advanced target range. The targets will simulate combat and move, sometimes targets will pop-up suddenly and some targets will move on cables between trees. It is several times more difficult than the static range you've trained on for the last few years," explained Iruka. "This also means you will be throwing in multiples, no longer one kunai or one shuriken at a time. This is not about accuracy any more but using proper spread vectors and timing."

Naruto found himself nodding in understanding. He also couldn't help feeling eager for what was to come. It might mean a new skills and new quests. All of the new classes might for that matter.

"Right, if there are no more questions let's get out there and get to it," ordered Iruka, picking up the box he'd just brought in.

"This is going to be epic," said Naruto cheerfully, walking next to his lazy friend and Chouji.

"For you maybe," said Shikamaru, knowing of Naruto's gamer ability and figuring Naruto would get a skill of some kind for it. "You're so broken, Naruto."

Naruto however just grinned at the comment. "You call it broken, I call it winning."

Out at the range Naruto watched his classmates take turns throwing a spread of weapons at various targets both moving and popping out from hidden locations. While doing so he was trying to figure out how to do the same.

Finally Naruto's turn came up and he was handed two kunai and four shuriken.

"Okay, so your goal is the throw them all together at one of the target areas," explained Iruka briefly.

"Any suggestions on how to do that?"

Iruka smiled then took two kunai and four shuriken from the pile of cheap practice weapons from the large box he'd brought earlier. He then put one kunai between his pointer finger and his middle finger then a shuriken between the other fingers. He then spread his arms briefly before quickly snapping the forward and crossing them. At some point during snapping them forward he released the weapons at a moving target landing five hits and three misses.

"Sweet," said Naruto appreciatively. "That was awesome."

Naruto quickly tried to mimic Iruka's handling of the weapons before releasing them on a moving target missing with all of them. Not only did he miss but the weapons were really slow.

"This technique is harder than throwing one weapon at a time so it will probably take a bit to get the hang of it.

**Quest Alert**

**It's raining knives: Score 2 hits or more.**

**Score 2 hits on the target using an area of effect skill before the end of class.**

**Completion Award: 1000 Exp**

**Academy Kunai (10) and Academy Shuriken (20)**

**Completion Failure: 200 Exp**

Naruto wanted to jump for joy at the quest but managed to restrain himself because of the quest requirement. He didn't have any AoE skills yet. But that most likely meant that what he was learning, or rather trying to learn was an AoE skill. That meant he'd have to get as many chances as he could on this target range if he wanted to complete the quest.

Naruto looked at the line and saw several students lazing about after just one try while some got back in line to try again so the line wasn't extremely long as when the exercise first began. Seeing that, he rushed to get back in line.

"New quest?" asked Shikamaru softly, stepping in line behind him.

"Yeah, I have to create an AoE and then score 2 hits or more on a target," Naruto replied just as softly.

"That doesn't sound too difficult."

"I don't know, I tried the technique Iruka-sensei showed me and it didn't go so well. My weapons were slow and off target."

"So next level you might want to do more with DEX, it improves your accuracy right?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea, I'm really close to leveling up now too."

"I still say you're broken but good luck anyway."

"Thanks, Shikamaru."

The line moved pretty quickly since each student got one try before being sent on their way. Naruto got back to the front of the line pretty quickly and once again tried the same more as Iruka did. The weapons flew a bit faster but were still way of target not getting a single hit.

Naruto rushed to the back of the line again and waited. He was seeing some improvement and for him that was enough for now.

"Hey, Naruto," started Shikamaru, getting in line behind him again.

"Yeah, you figure something out?" asked Naruto.

"Try putting a little chakra in your arms. I got a lot more speed from my last throw that way."

Naruto nodded. "Will do, thanks."

"Yeah well, it would be troublesome if I didn't try to help."

Naruto waited once again for his turn. When he got up to the line he collected the two kunai and four shuriken. He lined up with the range waiting for a target to appear.

A small pop signified a pop-up target snapping into view signaling Naruto to attack.

Naruto right away drew his arms back and charged a little chakra into them then let the weapons rip. He got one solid hit while the others sailed past the target.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**I will get you even if it takes every last weapon I've got, area of effect 'Buki no Arashi' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Buki no Arashi (Passive/Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00 CP: 50]**

**In a Storm of Weapons you throw a group of weapons at the same time targeting an area of effect.**

**Passively increase AoE accuracy 5%**

**Throw up to 6 small weapons at once when active.**

Naruto was stoked at his achievement. Not only was the ability cool as hell but it had a bad ass name to it too.

"Better, Naruto, keep working on it," encouraged Iruka.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei. I'll get this in no time at all. Just you watch."

Once again Naruto was quickly joined by Shikamaru. "So, what was it?"

"[Buki no Arashi], I can throw six weapons at once but it costs fifty CP. Still, it's pretty awesome," explained Naruto, absolutely giddy at the prospect of unleashing hundreds of weapons at once, maybe thousand . . . or enough to turn the sky black with metal death raining down on the enemy without mercy.

Shikamaru seeing Naruto zone out into his own world poked him . . . slapped him to snap him out of his daze.

"Sorry about that, lost in thought," explained Naruto sheepishly.

"Whatever, you're up," he motioned to the now empty line in front of him.

Naruto rushed to the line and collected his weapons. "Buki no Arashi," escaped his mouth softly as soon as the target began sliding across one of the cables. There was a quick 'rat-tat-tat-tat' as four of the weapons hit their mark.

**Your weapons found their mark.**

**Completions Awarded: 1000 Exp, ****Academy Kunai (10), and Academy Shuriken (20)**

"Yatta," cheered Naruto.

"Good job, Naruto," Iruka congratulated him.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto fist pumped several times as he walked back to the end of the line.

"I take it you leveled?" asked Shikamaru, joining Naruto again.

"Hell yeah I did," Naruto happily informed his friend.

"Congrats, so how are you going to spend the points?"

"I don't know. I was thinking I might want to save them a bit. The [Advanced Academy Tactics] skill book you gave me requires thirty WIS. I imagine it will probably need thirty STR or DEX for the next level of taijutsu. I guess it depends on which hits max level first and then if I have the book or not.

"Good plan," said Shikamaru, smirking in approval of his friend's decision.

"Have you had any more luck at the library with the kekai genkai stuff?"

"I found a brief mention of the Uzumaki clan but nothing concrete unfortunately," answered Shikamaru.

"Cool. Maybe I can ask the old man about it. I haven't bugged him in a long time anyway."

"Have you told him about your ability yet?"

"Not yet, I haven't had reason to tell him about it yet. I will eventually it just hasn't come up."

"Troublesome, blonde," grumbled Shikamaru.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Naruto waving him off.

The rest of practice was pretty quiet, just grinding out the experience for the new technique for Naruto while chatting with Shikamaru and eventually Chouji who decided to join them.

Afternoon taijutsu practice was fun, Naruto got to beat up on several of the civilian children, grinning the whole way through. Shikamaru got beat down first by Sasuke then by Ino before fighting one of the civilians and winning.

After class was done, Naruto made a mad dash for Higurashi Weapons. He'd been saving his Ryo and it was now burning a hole in pocket just waiting to upgrade his gear. But first he needed to complete his delivery quest.

"Yo, Higurashi-san, I'm here to work," shouted Naruto excitedly as he entered.

"Alright brat," said Hiten, setting a box on the counter.

**Quest Alert**

**Deliver the Goods: Make the Higurashi Weapons delivery in place of the regular delivery girl.**

**Deliver the box to the Nara Clan in fifteen minutes or less.**

**Completion Award: 500 Exp**

**500 Ryo**

**Increase reputation with Higurashi Weapons**

**Increase reputation with Nara Clan**

**Completion Failure: 100 Exp**

**100 Ryo**

**Decrease reputation with Higurashi Weapons**

**Decrease reputation with Nara Clan**

Naruto accepted, collected the box and bolted out the door. This would be the first time he's delivered to a clan. All the past deliveries went to various government buildings, usually the Hokage Tower. Luckily, he actually knew where the Nara Clan compound was thanks to his friendship with Shikamaru. This would also be the first time he'd gotten possible reputation with one of the clans.

"[Chakra Sprint]," whispered Naruto, feeling the chakra charge into his legs and allowing him to run forward at an incredible pace.

It took Naruto about five minutes to reach the Nara Clan compound gates. Then another five arguing with the rude guards before Shikamaru finally showed up.

"What's up, Naruto?" asked Shikamaru.

"I have a delivery for your family from Higurashi Weapons. But the two guards are being dicks about it," explained Naruto.

One of the guards tried to protest, "Now see here you little-"

"Thanks," said Shikamaru, holding out his hands.

Naruto smirked and handed him the slip to sign for the package then the box. Naruto took the signed receipt from Shikamaru. "Thanks, Shikamaru, you're a real life saver.

**You've completed the delivery just in time. Return to Higurashi Weapons to claim your reward.**

"That was a close one," grumbled Naruto, closing the message window.

"See you in class tomorrow," said Shikamaru, waving good-bye to his friend as he carried the box inside.

"See ya," returned Naruto, before turning and running back to Higurashi's.

**Completion Awarded: 500 Exp, 500 Ryo, +50 to reputation with Higurashi Weapons, +50 to reputation with Nara Clan.**

**You are now 'Honored' with Higurashi Weapons.**

"Good work, Naruto. You've been a real asset the last few months. Tell you what, going forward you can take a 15% discount on anything I sell," offered Hiten.

"Thank you very much, Higurashi-san," Naruto thanked him profusely. "It's definitely time for some upgrades.

Higurashi grinned at the thought of a sale. "So, what are you looking for?"

"Everything," said Naruto greedily, his hands grinding together as he looked around the shop.

"Why don't we start with the basics and go from there?" suggested Hiten. The man shuddered momentarily clearly thinking of someone else for a moment. "Let them never meet," he grumbled quietly.

"Okay, so I'm not leaving here today without some gloves, maybe a better jacket and pants, definitely better shoes. I wouldn't say no to some bracers or shin guards either."

"And how much have you got to spend this time?"

"13500, that leaves me with 2000 for expenses and stuff," said Naruto, he'd clearly been thinking about this for a while.

"Well alright then," said Hiten. "Let's start with your jacket."

Naruto followed him, "Oh, and I want orange. It doesn't have to be all orange like my old stuff was but I need some. I've been going through orange withdrawals, it's not cool man."

Hiten chuckled. "Burnt Orange good enough?"

"Ooh, yeah it is," said Naruto, his eyes instantly sparkling.

"Try this on," Hiten said tossing a short-sleeve jacket at Naruto.

Naruto scramble to catch the jacket feeling an audible jingle of chain mesh when he caught it.

**Burnt Orange and Black Light Armored Jacket – **A tough short-sleeve jacket covered in thick cloth and lined with light chain mesh, this armor provides light protection from weapons. Requires Lv10. Stats: +20 DEF, +7 DEX, +7 STR, +7 VIT, DUR 75/75.

Naruto frowned momentarily as he read the description. There was a level requirement to wear it. Still, it was only one level away from him being able to wear it and it was awesome.

"Yeah, thought you might like that. I ordered it a few months ago for you specifically. Thought you'd want it for when you actually become a genin. Seems I was right." Hiten laughed as Naruto hugged the jacket and rubbed his face on it.

"I'll definitely take it," said Naruto. "Next up?"

"Glove and bracers," said Hiten, trundling to another aisle and then motioning to a shelf.

There wasn't much selection, they all seemed rather standard too.

**Black Fingerless Gloves with Metal Back Plate – **Tough gloves with a solid gripping surface and some protection. Requires Lv9. Stats: +7 DEF, + 5% to Parry, DUR 50/50.

**Grey and Black Forearm Guard – **A simple guard for the forearm used for enhanced protection. Requires Lv8. Stats: +5 DEF, DUR 40/40.

"Can you dye the grey plate the same burnt orange?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, it will take me a few minutes and you have let it dry over night before equipping it but sure . . . oh, and it will cost an extra 100 Ryo."

"That's fine. Now for Pants?"

"Pants," said Hiten, collecting the items Naruto selected. He set them on the shop counter first before showing Naruto to the pants. "Try these," he offered, tossing another pair of pants at Naruto.

**Black Light Armored Pants – **Tough ankle-length pants covered in thick cloth and lined with light chain mesh, this armor provides light protection from weapons. Requires Lv10. Stats: +25 DEF, +8 DEX, +8 STR, +8 VIT, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], DUR 75/75.

Naruto groaned, it was another piece with a level requirement above his own current level. But once again, Naruto would have been a fool not to take it with only one level to go until he could equip it.

"Last stop, shoes and shin guards.

**Grey and Black Shin Guard – A simple guard for the shin used for enhanced protection. Requires Lv8. Stats: +5 DEF, DUR 40/40.**

**Black Genin Shinobi Sandals – Made of tough cloth-like material these sandals are perfect for genin as they do not impede flexibility or chakra but also offer additional protection. Requires Lv11 Stats: +10 DEF, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], +1.00 to speed, DUR 50/50.**

Now the shoes were a tough decision. It was two whole levels away from being able to use them. That said he'd already figured he'd hit level eleven before he graduated so there was no reason not to get them other than cost and it wasn't like they were going to cost less if he bought them later.

"Can you dye the shin guards like the forearm protectors, but just all black for these?"

"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem.

"Thanks," said Naruto. "So what do I owe you?"

"9550 Ryo," said Hiten, adding Naruto's selections to the counter. "Can I get you anything else?"

"Don't suppose you have a book on Advanced Academy Taijutsu just lying around?"

Hiten stared at Naruto for a second then blinked. The question had caught him off guard. "I think my daughter might have one but I don't think she's ever even opened the thing."

"Really?" asked Naruto in surprise. "Can I buy it from you?"

"I'll have to check with my daughter first. Check back on Friday, she should be back from her mission by then."

"Hell yeah I will, thanks, Higurashi-san."

"Yeah, Yeah, now pay me and get out of here."

Naruto happily paid for his new toys before rushing home to try as much of it on has he could.

Once home Naruto decided to clear out some of his excess inventory junk. When he removed his old orange jacket and pants he was immediately assaulted by a very foul odor. He honestly hadn't realized how much it stunk before now. He'd been better about washing his current clothes simply because he'd been exercising more which left them with an obvious odor, he even went as far as to use one of the quick-laundry's to clean them. But given that his old clothes were just sitting in his inventory he had no idea they were that bad off.

Naruto immediately ran them to his kitchen sink, popped in the stopper, and turned on the water full blast before thrusting the offensive clothing under the tap burying the odor immediately. Naruto then reach up into his cabinet above the sink and added some detergent. He then walked back to his room to get the rest of his laundry and the washboard he hadn't used in a while.

Naruto added his other clothes to the sink and turned off the tap. Then he placed the washboard in and started the process of plunging and scrubbing his clothes to get them cleaned up and not so stinky.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Plunge and scrub, plunge and scrub, life skill 'Laundry' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

"You've got to be fucking kidding me?" Naruto questioned aloud, seeing the message

**[Laundry (Active) Lv1 Exp 0.00% CP 5]**

Life happens and sometime it necessary to get a little clean. Plunge and scrub to keep those clothes tidy.

Additional 10% DUR restored when active.

Overuse will reduce DUR 10%.

"Okay, not kidding," said Naruto in surprise. "Every damn time I think I've finally got this shit figured out something new pops up just to fuck with me. I swear. And I'm still talking to myself out loud, why am I still talking to myself? I'm going to shut up now and get back to my laundry."

Naruto did indeed shut up and got to work on his laundry. After which he carried it all up to the roof and hung it on the clotheslines available to the residents. With that set he sat down to wait on his clothes to dry. If he left them there they'd end up getting tossed off the side of the roof and he'd probably never get them back.

So Naruto sat back and started draining his chakra with [Chakra Reinforcement]. It was about the only thing he could train at the moment with his limited number of skills. He would love to work on some of his combat skills but he had no doubt he'd get in trouble for the noise he made or for the potential damage to the build he might cause.

That did give him another idea though. He could let his chakra recharge, while his clothes dried but he could also be more productive with his time and work on stealth. Simply moving around the rickety rooftop without making any noise had to be worthy of some stealth experience. It would probably be handy for the change in upcoming lessons.

So that was exactly what Naruto did. He just walked from one end of the roof to the other trying not to make any noise. And it did work to his benefit.

**[Stealth (Passive) LV5 Exp: 14.97%]**

Stealth is an essential skill to any shinobi. It is used to sneak and hide in equal parts so as not to be caught by friend or foe.

Passively increases Stealth infiltration 15%

Passively increases Stealth avoidance 15%

Passively increases Stealth concealment 15%

**[Chakra Reinforcement (Active) Lv26 56.25% CP: 100]**

Using chakra to reinforce your body can now protect you from taking some damage.

Additional 360 HP damage reduction when active.

Reinforcement lasts until 360 damage has been inflicted on you.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Friday had come at last. It was nice that the last four days worked to his advantage. He'd progressed quite a bit in his skills and even gained some experience from the [Trap] quest, [Stealth] quest, and the AoE quest came back this time asking for double the number of hits which Naruto pulled off. The question now was whether it was a daily quest or if it would eventually stop appearing, same for the [Stealth] and [Trap] quests. Other than that he earned his one additional stat point for STR, VIT, DEX, INT, and WIS by just going to class.

Much to Naruto's ire, Shikamaru gained another level without really even trying, the lucky bum.

**Name: **Nara Shikamaru

**Title: **Academy Student

**Level: **LV10** Next Level: **15.06%

**HP: **120/120

**CP: **170/170

**STR: **10

**VIT:** 12

**DEX: **11

**INT: **17

**WIS: **46

**LUK: **3

**Status: Lazy Genius **(+5 WIS per Level, -1 STR, -1 VIT, -1 DEX),** Shadow Element **(Able to manipulate and control shadows, -15% cost to kage jutsu, +10 control to kage jutsu), **Natural Leader **(+25% to experience gain to [Advanced Tactics] Skill)

**Nara Shikamaru is a member of the famed Nara clan known for their intellect and laziness. The unique ability to manipulate shadows makes them rather versatile shinobi. Shikamaru is by far the smartest Nara born in many generations and in turn is also the laziest.**

Shikamaru couldn't help laughing when Naruto told him.

"What the hell did you do last night anyway?" asked Naruto.

"Fed the deer," he answered. "It was troublesome."

Naruto almost growled after hearing that but he restrained himself. Getting into a fight with Shikamaru now would be asking for detention, something he was going to avoid at all costs.

"I said it was troublesome," said Shikamaru, frowning a bit.

"Why? What happened?"

"Freaking wolf got into the preserve. Had to hunt it down and kill it. Again, it was troublesome."

"Really?" asked Naruto. "That's actually kind of cool, it would also explain how you went from about 15% of level to 15% of level 10. I kind of hate you for that."

"Next time I'll call you to help," said Shikamaru sarcastically.

"Really?" asked Naruto. "Thanks Shikamaru, that'd be great."

"Troublesome," groaned Shikamaru. Clearly Naruto missed or ignored the sarcasm.

"Anyway, I'm going to Higurashi's after class, you can come with if you want to check it out," offered Naruto.

"Yeah, I have a little time. You mind if Chouji comes with us? I haven't been hanging out with him much lately."

"The more the merrier," said Naruto happily. He was always happy to have more people around, it made feel more accepted.

It would be fate then that Naruto got paired against Chouji for his last taijutsu match of the day.

**Name: **Akimichi Chouji

**Title: **Academy Student

**Level:** LV10** Next Level: **89.76%

**HP: **870/870

**CP: **100/100

**STR: **23

**VIT: **37

**DEX: **7

**INT:** 10

**WIS: **10

**LUK: **4

**Status: Big Boned **(+50 HP &amp; +2 STR per level, -2 DEX),** Connoisseur **(+15% effectiveness of [Cooking] Skill, +25% experience gain to [Cooking] Skill),** Faithful Friend **(+10% to all stats when in team with 'Exalted' friend).

**Akimichi Chouji is a member of the famed Akimichi clan known for their large frames and larger appetites. Capable of the unique body manipulation jutsu that makes them very powerful shinobi. Chouji is a very kind young man but has a short fuse in the event a certain three letter word is used around him.**

Naruto smiled happily at the young man. This was a fight Naruto could win just based on the stats. But then again, Naruto didn't know what skills Chouji brought to the table. Hopefully, given this was just a taijutsu spar so he wouldn't have to worry too much about it.

"Hajime," called Iruka, starting the match and then quickly exiting the ring.

Naruto found himself suddenly ducking as a fist bigger than his head shot through the space it previously occupied.

"Holy shit, Chouji, what the hell was that?"

"You like it?" he asked, grinning proudly. "My dad taught me a few weeks ago. This is the first time I'm trying it in a real fight."

"Oh, gee, that's nice," grumbled Naruto. A moment later, he was once again ducking a giant fist and then a second.

Chouji had really surprised Naruto and put him completely on the defensive. It was pure luck that Naruto out lasted his technique.

**Akimichi Chouji**

**HP: 870/870**

**CP: 7/100**

As soon as Naruto saw his CP hit zero he charge in and started attacking vigorously, punching him in the kidney, kicking the back of his knee, then punching him in the side of the head putting him down for the count with a KO.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto," said Iruka, calling an end to the match. He then bent down and waived some smelling salts under Chouji's nose rousing him right away.

Naruto walked forward offering him a hand up. "Great fight, Chouji."

"You too, I guess I used my technique too long."

"It happens," said Naruto, pulling Chouji to his feet with all the strength he could muster. "Still, that was fun. We should spar again sometime."

"I'd like that," said Chouji. "Maybe, you, Shika and I can all hang out together sometime."

"Yeah, Shikamaru and I were going to the weapons shop after class, you're welcome to come. We were planning to invite you anyway."

"Yeah, that's sounds good. Surplus Arms usually has good deals," said Chouji.

"We're going to Higurashi's actually."

Chouji whistled in appreciation. "You like the high end goods, huh?"

"Are they high end?"

"As weapons and shinobi armor goes, yeah. And they are pretty pricey which means not everyone can afford to shop there," explained Chouji.

"Well, unfortunately, they are one of the few shops that will actually sell to me. It's kind of a pain in the ass honestly."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have pranked them," added Shikamaru, joining the group and the conversation.

"I couldn't have possibly pranked all of them. I'm telling you, there's a conspiracy," yelled Naruto.

"Since when do you know words like 'conspiracy'?" asked Shikamaru, smirking slightly at seeing Naruto's face.

The last few fights winded down with the group chatting. Finally class ended and the small troupe made their way to Higurashi's Weapons to do a little shopping.

"Yo, Higurashi-san, I'm here as promised," shouted Naruto, walking happily into the shop.

"Yeah, yeah, just a minute. I'll go get Tenten," said Hiten, waving Naruto off.

"What's that about?" asked Chouji.

"Apparently his daughter has a copy of Academy Advanced Taijutsu. I'm going to see if I can buy it off of her," explained Naruto.

"Ah, I see," said Chouji.

"Anyway, look around, they've got some great stuff here."

"Thanks, I like our stuff too," said a new voice. Walking out from behind the counter was a kunoichi, maybe a year older than them. She wore a flowery pink sleeveless shirt, red pants and her hair was held up in two round buns. "So, which one of you wants to buy my book?"

"That would be me," said Naruto, stepping up to meet her. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you."

"Higurashi Tenten, back at ya."

"So, about that book?"

"Yeah, I could sell it to you but you got to do something for me first. I want to fight you. Just a spar, but I have to know if you're worthy of it."

**Quest Alert**

**Fight me: Survive a spar with Tenten**

**Tenten has challenged you to a spar. You must last for two minutes against her without being killed or knocked out.**

**Completion Award: 2000 Exp**

**[Advanced Academy Taijutsu] Skill Book**

**50% off coupon for any one item at Higurashi Weapons**

**Increase reputation with Higurashi Tenten**

**Completion Failure: 200 Exp**

**Decrease reputation with Higurashi Tenten**

Naruto tapped the 'Confirm (Y)'. "Sure, happy to," said Naruto. And he was happy to. Any chance for more experience was a big win in his book. "So where do we do this?"

"Meet me tomorrow morning at Training Field Four, my sensei will referee the match. And your friends can come watch too. I promise I won't beat you too badly."

"I'll be there," said Naruto excitedly. This was going to be epic.

**Higurashi Tenten Lv 18**

Assuming he survived.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

A/N: Hello all, I've had a few comments about the posting of stats and I do try to limit it somewhat now that I'm getting more into the meat of the story. That said, I've also had questions about where his stats are at the end of each chapter. So, I am considering posting an updated stat chapter after each new chapter or another story with just the current stats. As such I'm asking for votes from my readers. Thank you all for reading and enjoy.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto woke up slowly Saturday morning, feeling a sense of peace. He sat up slowly then stretched and yawned to wake himself up properly. Then a small smile started to form, he was going to challenge a genin . . . well spar a genin but it was still going to be awesome, even if he did get his ass kicked.

Tenten was level 18 which meant she was nearly a chuunin. This meant she was experienced, much more so that he was. Naruto had to restrain himself from using [Observe] on her. He wanted to wait until the fight.

Naruto was up late the night before training the skills he had. He even managed to convince Chouji and Shikamaru to spar with him, well past either of their curfews. And it was so worth it. Thanks to Shikamaru pushing him on strategy he'd leveled his tactics three times and hit LvMax with his taijutsu thanks to sparring Chouji.

**[Intermediate Academy Taijutsu (Passive) LvMax]**

Taijutsu or hand to hand combat is another essential skill for all shinobi to learn. The beginner level focuses on appropriate stances and basic strikes, kicks, and blocks. The intermediate level adds a few stances, strikes, kicks, and blocks as well as a few holds to your hand to hand combat skills.

Passively increases STR 7.5%

Passively increases VIT 7.5%

Passively increases DEX 7.5%

**[Intermediate Academy Tactics (Passive) Lv18 Exp 5.05%]**

Beginner – Team formations, ambush points, counter ambush and many other tactics. Intermediate – Tactical management for single combat strategies and using terrain advantages in combat.

Passively increases INT 7.5%

Passively increases WIS 7.5%

Neither was very happy with him by the end of the night nor were their parents but they respected his decision to push and train as hard as he could to prepare for the fight that was to come. They had also gotten some good experience out of it, both gaining a few points in various stats.

Naruto suddenly grinned, and sprung to his feet. He rushed through his apartment to the bathroom to get his day going the right away. One shower later found Naruto in front of his hot plate. One of the nice things that had come from the previous night's training is Chouji telling him to eat a good breakfast, he even told him how to scramble and cook some eggs.

So here Naruto was, cooking, something that was very far outside of his wheelhouse. His meals usually consisted of Ichiraku Ramen or Cup Ramen and maybe some milk. Making real food was very different.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Real food for a real boy, life skill 'Cooking' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Cooking (Active) Lv1 Exp 0.00 CP 5]**

Eatingright will help you grow up big and strong. Food can be made to keep you alive but also to make you stronger.

Additional 5% to [Cooking] speed when active.

Naruto frowned. He had a feeling that would happen after seeing Chouji's status buff to cooking the day before. He just wasn't really sure what it meant for him in the long run. Unless the food literally made him stronger. "Buff food?" wondered Naruto aloud. He'd played a game years ago where eating certain food would give his character in the game bonus stats for a short period of time.

**Through careful application and work you have learned [Cooking] recipe [Scrambled Eggs].**

**[Scrambled Eggs]**

**Restore 100 HP**

**+5 VIT for 30 minutes**

Naruto blinked in surprise, that window he wasn't prepared for. "More shit to mess with, great."

Naruto sat and ate his eggs figuring he will be fighting Tenten in less than thirty minutes anyway. Naruto swallowed the last of his eggs then set out to meet Shikamaru and Chouji as they had planned.

Naruto met with his friends just outside the gates of the Nara Clan compound and after brief greeting the trio made their way to Training Field Four.

The loud rhythmic thumping that met them as they approached was slightly disconcerting. The fact it got louder as they got closer was even more so. The green thing with giant teeth, caterpillar eye-brows causing the thumping noise from striking a training post was downright terrifying.

"Um, hello," called Naruto nervously. Who knew if the green thing would suddenly turn and start pounding on him in such a way?

**Rock Lee Lv 20**

"Yosh!" he screamed suddenly, turning to face the new comers.

Naturally all three took a few steps backwards from the thing.

"Welcome my most, youthful friends. Have you come to stoke your fires of youth in the flames of hard work?" he asked completely serious.

Shikamaru and Chouji briefly looked at each other before shoving Naruto forward.

Naruto glared over his shoulder at them before turning to face the green thing again. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and these are my friends, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru. I'm supposed to meet Tenten here this morning."

"Oah!" he screamed loudly. "How very youthful of our Tenten to have found such a man to date! We must fight to see if you are worthy."

Before Lee could do anything he was planted face first into the ground by a giant club. "Shut up you moron. I'm not dating him." She looked over her shoulder toward another young man and blushed slightly.

**Hyuuga Neji Lv 24**

"Sorry about him. He's an idiot," said Tenten, stepping over the twitching boy. "So you're here for that spar then?"

"Yeah," said Naruto, his eyes a bit wide as he stared at the club Tenten was swinging about so casually, the thing was easily as big as she was.

"Great, as soon as Gai-sensei gets here we can get started," she said simply. She then opened a scroll to seal away the club.

Naruto couldn't help using [Observe] on the club.

**The Stupid Stick – **A ridiculously slow club to swing, but capable of causing severe brain trauma if you do hit. Required Lv15. Stats: 50-100 Damage (melee), +20 STR, causes 'Daze' status effect, DUR 50/50.

Naruto tried not to snicker when he then saw Lee stand up and wobble his way back to the training post. He couldn't hold it back once he saw Lee start striking the post as if nothing ever happened a minute later.

"Don't worry about him, nothing keeps him down for long."

"Clearly," said Shikamaru flatly. "How often do you hit him with that thing? And how is he not brain damaged as a result?"

Tenten blatantly ignored the comment, choosing instead to start stretching and warming up.

Naruto, rather than comment, chose to join her in warming up and stretching. He had full bars of both HP and CP. He'd already activated his [Chakra Reinforcement], that plus the minor food buff, he was technically sitting at 1652/1652 HP.

Naruto suddenly paused in his stretching. Coming into the field was another green thing, slightly bigger. It was also walking on its hands with its feet dangling in the sky above it.

Tenten sighed. "Gai-sensei, why do you keep doing this to me? Why can't I have a normal sensei who does normal things? What did I do wrong in my previous life to deserve this?"

Meanwhile, Neji stood by watching, neither twitching nor acknowledging the strange man or his teammates. He simply chose to glare at Naruto and his friends.

"What's his deal?" asked Chouji, motioning to Neji.

"He takes being a shinobi very seriously," said Tenten. "He was last year's rookie of the year. He doesn't really approve of me sparing some academy students."

"So he's a jerk," said Naruto, reading between the lines.

Tenten turned a glare onto Naruto for the comment. "Gai-sensei, referee this match please."

"Yosh," said the man loudly, springing from his hands back to his feet. "First, we must go over the rules. No intentional killing blows allowed. If I see you going for the kill, I will break you. The match will last until one of you is unconscious. Any questions?"

"What are you?" Naruto asked in hushed voice, his eyes glued to the giant eyebrows on the man's face.

"Oh ho, you have never heard of the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha? For I am he, but to those who know me best, I am Maito Gai."

**Maito Gai Lv ?**

Shikamaru groaned, seeing Naruto completely transfixed by the man. Walked up to Naruto and gave him a swift slap upside the head.

"What the hell was that for?" demanded Naruto, rounding on his friend.

"You were spacing out, now go fight, and try not to end up crippled. Dragging you to the hospital would be way too troublesome."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in warning to his friend before turn to face his opponent. "[Observe]."

**Name: **Higurashi Tenten

**Title:** Genin

**Level: **LV18

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **1090/1090

**CP: **330/330

**STR: **33

**VIT: **73

**DEX: **129

**INT: **33

**WIS: **33

**LUK: **10

**Status: Weapon's Mistress **(+2 DEX &amp; +20 HP per Level, +20% Damage to all Bukijutsu Skills),Smithy (15% effectiveness to [Blacksmithing] Skill, +25% experience gain to [Blacksmithing] Skill),** Real Kunoichi **(+5 to all stats)

**Higurashi Tenten is a Real Kunoichi and takes it very seriously. As seriously as she takes being a kunoichi, she takes being a blacksmith just as much so. She was trained from young age in both skills by her father after her mother failed to return from a mission. She has vowed to be just as strong and capable as any other shinobi.**

Naruto blinked owlishly several times. He had to look again at Tenten's total DEX. "I'm fucked," he barely whispered.

"Hajime!" Gai shouted, stirring the pair into action.

Naruto was very quickly back peddling away from the girl as dozens of kunai and shuriken flew toward him with deadly accuracy. He pulled a pair of kunai and tried to parry as many of the projectiles as he could but it wasn't pretty or very effective, his steadily dropping health bar was proof of that.

"[Chakra Reinforcement] [Chakra Sprint]," Naruto activated the two abilities trying to outpace the girls thrown weapons.

"Where the hell is she getting them all?" he asked as she began throwing more to accommodate his increased speed. Naruto was furiously reactivating his Sprint and Reinforcement every time it faded which was still barely keeping up with the damage he was taking. Especially considering his CP was draining fast.

"Fight back or she's going to beat you," called Shikamaru, actually yelling for once.

"Screw it then," said Naruto. "[Chakra Sprint] [Kunai Bukijutsu]," he said in quick succession, now dashing straight at Tenten, trying to engage her in close. Shikamaru was right, at range he had absolutely no chance of surviving the fight, it was quickly apparent that she wasn't as skill in melee fighting.

Until she pulled a quarter staff out of nowhere. The fight was still fairly one sided but Naruto's plummeting HP had slowed to a steady downward glide.

**You've survived a spar with Tenten. Collect your reward from Tenten when your regain consciousness.**

"When I regain consciousness?" asked Naruto, confused by the text message.

"Lights out," said Tenten, grinning as she batted Naruto across the temple with her quarter staff sending him rapidly into black.

Naruto came to a few minutes later to the smell of smelling salts. He blinked several times before pushing himself away from the green monstrosities in confusion.

"Easy there, Naruto-kun," said Gai, trying to calm the confused boy. "You might have a bit of a concussion. Confusion is normal at first."

Naruto shook his head a couple of times to clear the cobwebs out. He rubbed his face with his hands trying to clear his vision up when he jerked in pain. "Ow," he complained as he felt the large welt or bruise forming on the side of his face near his temple.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I might have gotten a bit carried away," said Tenten, not looking very apologetic at all.

"It's okay, I'll be fine soon enough," said Naruto, standing straight again and bowing to show proper respect for the match end.

Tenten mirrored the bow but much more nonchalantly. Coming up from her bow she reached into her hip pouch and produce a book which she tossed to Naruto.

Naruto caught it.

**Completion Award****ed: 2000 Exp, [Advanced Academy Taijutsu] Skill Book, 50% off coupon for any one item at Higurashi Weapons, +50 reputation with Higurashi Tenten.**

"But I lost the fight?" question Naruto, his mouth moving on its own.

"It wasn't about winning or losing, it was the challenge and you challenged me . . . a little . . . very, very little . . . like a teeny-tiny-itty-bitty miniscule challenge," she boasted, showing a hand with her thumb and forefinger nearly pressed together.

"Thanks . . . I think," said Naruto.

**You've obtained the skill book [Advanced Academy Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto would have been happy to learn the book now but there was a chance Tenten really would kill him if he burned it in front of her.

"Anyway, keep working and I'm sure you might measure up to me some day. Not any time soon but, you know, someday, far in the future, like years- no, decades from now."

"I get it, you're good, I'm bad. Stop harping on it already," grumbled Naruto.

Suddenly Tenten's demeanor switched to be completely serious. "Oh, and thanks for helping my dad out with those deliveries while I'm away on missions. I appreciate it a lot."

"Yeah, sure," said Naruto bashfully. He wasn't used to receiving such a genuine thanks from anybody. It had never really happened before.

"So, you and your little friends can run along now. Real ninja have training now," said Neji, his voice was ice cold when he spoke.

"I still say you're jerk but that's fine. We should hit the road anyway. See you around Stabby-girl, Bushy-brows, and Super Bushy-brows." Naruto ran to join his friend before the weapon girl could turn him into a pincushion again.

"Not bad," said Shikamaru, nodding in approval. "Not good exactly but considering how much she outclassed you, it wasn't bad at all."

"Thanks, she is mean and powerful. And that's with less than a year after graduating," said Naruto.

"I think we might need to start training harder," said Chouji, much to Shikamaru's surprise. "If that's the level they're at after just a year then we've got a really long way to go."

"You're not joking, Chouji," said Naruto. The difference between them was ridiculous. That DEX was insane, it was a miracle she ever missed him. There had to be some kind of accuracy versus dodge calculation that he just wasn't getting.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru complained again. "Fine, we can meet up every day after class at my house. We can train there and my old man might even help."

"We can go to my house too, my dad would probably help also if he's free," offered Chouji.

"Well, I don't really have a house or anyone to help us train but if you want to train stealth I have the best roof top in the world for it," added Naruto, grinning at the befuddled looks on his friends faces. "It's super creaky and my neighbors are really sensitive so if we make any noise they yell. I've found I've gotten a lot sneakier since I started training up there."

"Alright, I'm game," said Shikamaru. "So we rotate, day one class we go to my house. Day two we go to Naruto's rooftop, and day three we go to Chouji's. We all agreed?"

"Hell yeah, just make sure you let your parents know I'm coming. I don't want any trouble," suggested Naruto.

"I'm game and I'll tell my parents too," said Chouji, pulling out a new bag of chips and opening it. He then surprised the trio by offering some to both of them.

"Right then," said Shikamaru. "Since Monday is day three at the KSA and my cloud watching time is about to vanish let's relax for today and tomorrow. Would you two like to join me for some cloud watching?"

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

It was finally here, it was this thought that crossed through Naruto's mind as his eyes snapped wide open. Graduation exam day. His last chance to graduate, to become a real shinobi. He'd grown so much in the last five months since he started training with Shikamaru and Chouji. At least once a week one of their fathers would come out to watch over their training and usually give them a quest which usually amounted to some really great experience not to mention just being able to train.

Naruto had level capped most of his skills too which was great and not so great at the same time. He still couldn't learn Bunshin to save his life but his other skills should be high enough to carry him through. Thanks to Chouji and Shikamaru he'd even improved his grades in class . . . though if Shikamaru were to ask him he'd tell them his grades only went up because he was trying to get his INT points. So here he was, as maxed out as he could manage leading into the test. The most important skills he'd maxed out were his taijutsu and tactics.

**[Advanced Academy Taijutsu (Passive) LvMax]**

Taijutsu or hand to hand combat is another essential skill for all shinobi to learn. The beginner level focuses on appropriate stances and basic strikes, kicks, and blocks. The intermediate level adds a few stances, strikes, kicks, and blocks as well as a few holds to your hand to hand combat skills. The advanced level adds more stances, strikes, kicks, blocks, and holds as well as some throws. Mastery of all three Academy level taijutsu allow you to learn a more advanced form.

Passively increases STR 10%

Passively increases VIT 10%

Passively increases DEX 10%

**[Advanced Academy Tactics (Passive) LvMax]**

Team formations, ambush points, counter ambush and many other tactics.

Passively increases INT 10%

Passively increases WIS 10%

Speaking of skills, Naruto learned one very important lesson thanks to Shikamaru pointing it out. He'd been regularly voicing his skills out loud to active them. He'd even practiced saying them as softly as possible so that he didn't get a bunch of strange looks. So you could image how embarrassed he was when Shikamaru questioned it and told him to try to activate one without saying anything. An unspoken [Chakra Sprint] later and boy was he feeling silly about the whole damned thing. He'd learned that moving the chakra and then doing the necessary movement, sometimes hand seals, was all he needed. Shikamaru still hasn't let him live it down but then again, how was he supposed to know, this gamer ability was constantly making new shit up for him.

Beyond all that, he even learned some new cooking recipes, nothing overly advanced but still it was nice to have some variety in his buff food.

**[Miso Soup]**

Restores 100 HP

+5 WIS for 30 minutes

**[Grilled Fish]**

Restores 100 HP

+5 STR for 30 minutes

**[Toast]**

Restores 100 HP

+5 DEX for 30 minutes

**[Fruit Salad]**

Restores 100 HP

+5 INT for 30 minutes

**[Yakitori]**

Restores 200 HP

+5 VIT &amp; +5 STR for 30 minutes

But his favorite part to all the training, quests, and boring grinding was his level. He'd exceeded his expectations.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Academy Student (+25% experience gain to level 10)

**Level: **LV12** Next Level:** 87.57%

**Affiliation: Konoha**

**HP: **1813/1813

**CP: **1663/1663

**STR: **30 (18.00)

**VIT: **33 (28.30)

**DEX: **30 (18.00)

**INT: **33 (13.30)

**WIS: **30 (6.00)

**LUK: ?**

**DEF: **77 (19.25)

**SPD: **10 (25.00)

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill),** ?** (+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having tried and failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: **5

**Ryo: **26750

That's right, Uzumaki Naruto is a badass, a well-balanced badass but a badass nonetheless. Naruto had listened when Shikamaru told him that to become a genin he needed to be well-balance and once he became a genin then they would need to specialize. He'd seen as much when he looked at Tenten's stats when they sparred all those months back, her DEX and VIT were through the roof but her other stats were all really well balanced.

That left Naruto questioning what he was going to be able to specialize in, something he'd even voiced to Shikamaru on occasion. Unfortunately, Shikamaru told him to figure it out for himself.

So that's what Naruto attempted to do. He tried to figure it out for himself. The most obvious thing he noticed was that due to his increased HP, he could get beat on for quite a while without going down or getting tired, that opened the possibility of him being a 'Shield' in gaming terms. A 'Shield' in a game is someone who keeps an opponent focused on himself while the rest of the team attacked that target. Naruto actually kind of liked the idea of protecting his friends so that was definitely on the list of potential paths.

On the other side of that coin was Naruto's really high CP. If he could learn some jutsu, he could throw them out all day long in a fight. The key here though was learning some jutsu. Something that seemed impossible given he couldn't get into the library still and even if he could it wouldn't mean he could learn anything as he was pretty sure the library would frown upon the destruction of their books. Can you say more bad reputation? Still, Naruto loved ninjutsu and wanted to learn some even more. In the end he chose to keep his options open for when he got assigned to a team, hence sitting on his stat points until he was ready to assign them.

"Okay, Naruto, you can do this. Even without bunshin you should still be able to graduate based on your other skills and grades," he attempted to psych himself up.

It didn't take long before Naruto was seated in the academy, excited to start the testing.

**Quest Alert**

**You can do it: Pass the Graduation Exam**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp**

**Konoha Forehead Protector**

**Completion Failure: 500 Exp**

Naruto accepted the quest but was slightly confused by it. The failure was 500 Exp but there was no other penalty. Naruto would have thought 'Expulsion from the Shinobi Program' or something along those lines would have been there. It made him wonder if he'd get another chance just because of his gamer ability.

Regardless, Naruto had work to do. First up was the written test. It covered everything that Iruka had covered in the past year. There were questions on chakra theory, stealth, traps, bukijutsu, and tactics. Naruto was confident he aced the tactics, stealth and traps, probably did okay on the others but definitely not perfect.

After the written test they were taken out to the academy training field where they had to meet standards of conditioning. First they were each given three runs on the obstacle course where only their best time would be counted. Then they ran laps, lots of laps. They did push-ups and sit-ups, lots of them too. Once Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei were satisfied they went to the target range where they were tested for both accuracy and area of effect, both of which Naruto aced. In fact Naruto aced all of the conditioning tests too, he wasn't the best but he was pretty damned good and that was enough for him.

They were then taken to a sparing ring where they faced off against several of the academy instructors in a taijutsu only fight. Naruto thanked Kami repeatedly when he got to face off with Iruka-sensei, he was able to get a fair fight. Naturally Iruka held back quite a bit but Naruto still felt like he'd done quite well in his fight where he was sure if it had been any other teacher, they wouldn't have held back in the slightest.

It was a long and grueling day just as Naruto had remembered from his previous two attempts but Naruto came through this time feeling not only stronger, but significantly more confident than he had previously.

At long last it was time for the jutsu test, something he knew he'd get at least a 66% on which while not passing, when combined with all of his other test should be enough to get him through if only just.

Kawarimi, check, henge, check.

"Okay, Naruto, bunshin if you please?" requested Iruka.

Naruto formed the seals, he still remembered those regardless of the skill book, pushed in a little chakra and with a poof of smoke a dead, sickly looking double for the blonde formed.

"Fail," said Iruka. "Give us a minute to tabulate your results, please sit."

Naruto sat as ordered, he was quite literally on the edge of his seat as he awaited the results. It was quite nerve racking to sit there waiting, not know if he'd done enough.

Iruka finally stood after what felt like hours. "While you clearly failed the most heavily rated portion of today's testing, the bunshin, the rest of your testing managed to barely make up the different. I'm proud to tell you that you've passed with absolute minimum score, making you the dead last of this class. Congratulations on passing," he finished, holding out the forehead protector for Naruto to collect.

Naruto nearly shot across the room to accept the proof that he was now a genin shinobi.

**You passed the test.**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp, Konoha Forehead Protector**

**Bonus Title: Genin**

Naruto barely read the message, he was too busy jumping for joy then fiercely hugging Iruka and back to jumping for joy.

"Go on, Naruto," said Iruka. "Go join the rest of the graduates, you've earned it.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto's grinned seemed to widen even further if that was possible. It sadly didn't last long. Once he got outside with the other graduates, he could see all of his classmates with their families, celebrating, congratulating them. Naruto's grin faded into a small frown as he felt out of place.

"Congratulations, Naruto," said a voice from behind him.

Naruto turned to see Mizuki-sensei. "Thanks, sensei."

"So, dead last, huh?"

Naruto almost growled at the man. "It's that stupid bunshin. I totally kicked ass otherwise."

"You sure did. I was impressed with some of your tests. Say, you wouldn't be interested in an extra credit stealth test would you? Maybe get yourself out of the basement? It would give you a better chance of landing a good team too."

"Really?" asked Naruto, he was honestly surprised by the offer. "Sure, what do I have to do?"

"Come for a walk with me and I'll explain everything," said Mizuki, motioning for Naruto to follow him.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

A/N: Hello all, so the majority of responses has been to place the stats at the end of each chapter which I'm fine with. I appreciate the feedback and will do so going forward.

Naruto was only slightly suspicious of Mizuki's test, not enough to ask another teacher or the Hokage but just enough to be cautious of him. Mizuki explained everything, all the rules and his requirements as well as the time limit. The moment Mizuki vanished, Naruto got the pop-up for the actual quest.

**Quest Alert: A Rank Mission**

**Knowledge is power: Acquire the Forbidden Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's Library.**

**Objectives: **

**Infiltrate the Hokage's Library.**

**Escape undeterred with the Forbidden Scroll of Seals.**

**Bring the Forbidden Scroll of Seals to the secret location.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus: ?**

**Bonus: ?**

**Completion Award: 2000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp for Bonus Objective**

**10000 Ryo upon completion of all objectives**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Completion Failure: Capture and Imprisonment**

Right up until the 'Capture and imprisonment' for failing he was completely on board with the quest. The fact that he wasn't given a choice to accept or decline made him feel even more uncomfortable. However, given the consequences, failing was not an option.

So here he was, standing on a roof across the street from the Hokage's tower, trying to time the various patrols for his chance to infiltrate. He couldn't help the feeling that this was not going to end in his favor.

Naruto saw the gap he was waiting for and darted through the opening to a rooftop skylight. Quickly picking the lock, he then lifted the window slightly and slid his small frame inside. Naruto's landing on the floor ten meters below was whisper soft. He then padded as quietly as possible to the door of the assembly room he'd dropped into.

Naruto cracked the door slightly open to look down the hall, seeing the patrol had just turned the corner giving Naruto the room he needed to run to the door down the hall. Naruto was very thankful that he knew the tower as well as he did or he'd have been in big trouble already.

In the next room, Naruto shimmied his small body into the vent access, he needed to get down another floor and the vents once inside the building were the safest way through if he wanted to avoid any more patrols. He just had to be extra quiet this time of night because the noise would easily carry.

It took about twenty minutes to worm his way through the complex tunnel system that made up the ventilation for the tower. He finally saw the library through the one and only vent into the room. The room was dark, which suited Naruto fine, no light meant no one inside it.

As quietly as he was able, Naruto pushed down the vent, then popped the pin that held it in. With the one end free, Naruto was able to lower himself into the room. For a minute Naruto's [Observe] was overwhelmed with information. Hundreds of skill scrolls and books that were so very, very tempting to start learning right away. But he had the feeling that he was already going to be in enough trouble as it was so best he just get what he was coming for and get the fuck out.

**You have obtained [Forbidden Scroll of Seals].**

**Objective completed: Awarded 2000 Exp.**

One objective down, five to go," said Naruto, softly.

"Naruto-kun? Is that you?" asked the Sandaime.

"Oh shit," said Naruto, seeing the old man enter the room holding, reaching for the light switch.

Naruto was suddenly illuminated in light, holding the large scroll in his arms. "I can explain . . ."

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, not looking happy in the slightest to see Naruto holding the scroll.

The world seemed to suddenly freeze around Naruto as he tried to think of options. He couldn't fight the Sandaime, no way, now how. But if he didn't do something to take the old man out, he'd be caught for sure. He quickly tried to think of everything he knew about the old man, his habits, his hobbies, and his tendencies. Then it popped into his head, the little orange book the old man read, that Naruto caught him reading with a nose bleed. The old man was a pervert and perverts were weak against breasts. So hot naked girls might distract the old man. Now Naruto knew there was no way he could cast a genjutsu, he simply didn't know one. But he could definitely transform into one and hope to Kami it would work.

"Oiroke no jutsu," shouted Naruto, making the seals for henge rapidly.

A puff of smoke and a young nubile, big breasted, naked pigtailed blonde bombshell with wisps of smoke barely obscuring certain parts of her body was now staring down the venerable man. "Ho-ka-ge-sa-ma," Naruto moaned in his best imitation of one of the girls from the red-light district.

The poor old man never stood a chance. The Hokage was instantly propelled backward with blood spraying from his nose. Within seconds, the old man was on the ground twitching and smiling a silly grin while blood flowed from his nose.

"I can't believe that actually worked," said Naruto, letting the henge fall away.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Perverts beware, you have modified your 'Henge' to target such debased men, 'Oiroke no Jutsu' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

Not one to take any gift like this for granted, Naruto quickly made his escape from the tower, past the unconscious Hokage and out his unguarded window.

**Bonus objective completed: Awarded +750 to reputation with Sarutobi Hiruzen**

"That's fucked up, jiji," mumbled Naruto, closing the window.

Naruto made it out of the village easily enough, once more his prankster ways playing to his advantage. It didn't take long before another warning popped up, this was different from any he'd ever seen before.

**Training Field 13 – A heavily forested area populated with a large number of chakra spiders. Recommended Level: 12.**

Naruto blinked several times, this was new. So were the three spiders that suddenly dropped from the canopy above him and directly into his path.

**Chakra Spider Youngling Lvl 9**

**HP: 500/500 CP: 100/100**

**Chakra Spider venom will cause those afflicted to bleed out chakra.**

"That's not good," said Naruto, quickly putting the scroll into his inventory instead of trying to carry the damned thing. That done, he pulled a handful of shuriken and kunai then let them fly in with [Buki no Arashi]. The ten projectiles rained down on the spiders, killing one outright, wounding another but missing the third completely and totally pissing them both off. Naruto pulled two kunai immediately after, one for each hand. Naruto quickly dispatched the weakened one before dodging the unhurt ones leap at him.

A few more dodges and Naruto scored a solid hit, slicing off four of the spider's legs. A [Double Pierce] later and the spider was gone. Naruto smiled, he didn't get bit and three of them gave him 200 experience each.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't the last of them?" asked Naruto to himself. This game liked fucking with him at the worst possible times.

Naruto began moving through the forest again, running into several more packs of spiders, mostly younglings, but a few juveniles and adults. All experience worthy and all obnoxious.

Naruto was nearing his destination when everything suddenly went very, very quiet. It was so eerie that Naruto had to stop and check his surroundings. Looking up he couldn't help the terror that momentarily coursed through his veins.

**Jorogumo, the Prostitute Spider Lvl 16**

**HP: 1500/1500 CP: 100/100**

**Mother to the Chakra Spiders inhabiting these woods, she has been roused by the loss of so many of her children. Beware her breath for it will ensnare you as it has many other man. Those who fall prey are bedded then drained of life.**

Naruto swallowed heavily, he was too young to die and much too young to be a father to hundreds of little spider monsters.

Naruto pulled out two kunai and dropped into a ready stance. "Okay, you ugly bitch, let's rumble."

"You . . ." she moaned. "You have hurt so many of my children, taken them from their mother's embrace. You shall take responsibility." She dropped heavily to the forest floor. Eight monstrous legs connected to the largest spider Naruto had ever seen. From behind her was what looked like a scorpion's tail but instead of stinger was a woman's body. The woman was completely lifeless, yet her mouth spoke. "I will have you then I and our little ones shall devour you.

Naruto decided to wait no longer, showering her with another rain of weapons via [Buki no Arashi], sadly it had almost no effect at all, barely ticking her HP down at all, of course it would help to have hit with more than one or two weapons, the bitch was surprisingly agile.

"If range won't work on you then I'll have to get in a bit close. [Chakra Sprint][Chakra Reinforcement] allowed Naruto to close in quickly and shrug off the glancing blow from one of her leg's. He ducked under the offending appendage and drove one of his kunai into the joint. Another leg swung at him and ducked then kicked the butt of the kunai deeper into the joint.

Jorogumo screamed in pain and thrashed about getting some space from Naruto. As she backed away the limp and injured leg caught on a tree root. She tugged against the root eventually ripping her leg right out of her torso, spraying green oozing blood all over the place and dropping her HP almost an eighth.

"Okay, so that did some significant damage," Naruto said, analyzing the situation. "Now let's see if I can do it again."

Naruto sprinted in again, dodging multiple leg slashes, eventually get in close enough to jam two kunai into one joint and pop the leg free of her body instantly. Smirking in his moment of triumph, he missed the tail move on him. He then turned to be caught face to face with the woman, a crying sad woman whimpering, he hesitated.

The woman suddenly smirked and exhaled a bunch of gas in his face.

Naruto's eyes widened at the smirk and dropped quickly to the ground rolled away managing to dodge the poison cloud if just only. Rolling back to his feet, he hurled the two kunai in hand at the tail, one of the kunai piercing the woman's eye and penetrating into her skull.

Jorogumo screamed yet again and began thrashing about, its tail waiving about trying to eject the kunai stuck in it, her HP dropping by almost half.

Naruto seeing the opening jumped onto the beasts back then tried to [Double Pierce] the spider's head only to get hit by the tail with a glancing blow due to its wild thrash, knocking him back to ground.

Naruto landed roughly and rolled several times then rolled several more times as she tried to impale him with the spikes on the tips of her feet. Naruto eventually got back up to his feet once he'd gotten some distance from the bitch.

"You'll pay for this, I'll devour you whole," she cried out, the eye socket now empty of the kunai and bleeding the same green blood as the rest of the spider.

"Give me your best shot," said Naruto, pulling out two more kunai having lost the previous pair in trying to escape her last attack.

Naturally her best shot was having a dozen younglings drop from the canopy above him and scuttle toward him looking more than a little pissed off.

Liberal use of [Buki no Arashi] killed off the younglings but spent the majority of his shuriken and kunai.

"What I wouldn't give for some kibaku fuda (explosive tag) or elemental jutsu right now." Naruto charged in again, two kunai at the ready. Once again, dodging several leg swipes and getting under her he was able to take out another leg. It cost her severely as she crashed to the ground, no longer able to support her own weight.

She couldn't last much longer, especially now that she was immobilized. Naruto activated [Kunai Bukijutsu], [Chakra Sprint], and [Chakra Reinforcement] and charged in one more time, hopefully to finish the bitch off once and for all.

Naruto slipped behind her quickly then attacked her tail with as much power as he could jamming a kunai into the base of the tail then dragging it through as he spun around it severing it cleanly. The tail and false woman landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

Naruto looked at her again and her HP was flashing red and almost zeroed out. Naruto charged again this time leaping high and slamming a [Double Pierce] into the spider's head completely zeroing the bitches HP.

"Hah, suck it bitch," said Naruto triumphantly.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto watched in morbid fascination as the body of the spider decomposed rapidly, leaving behind a small pile of stuff on the ground.

Naruto blinked surprised. "Loot? Seriously, she dropped loot? This fucking game is going to kill me creating shit like this." Naruto tentatively walked forward to check the drops.

**High Grade Chakra Spider Silk – Soft threadlike material capable of conducting chakra. Crafting Material.**

**3000 Ryo.**

**Chakra Spider Venom – Toxin Collected and bottled that can be applied to weapons. Venom reduces 25 CP per 5 seconds, stacks 4 times.**

Naruto couldn't help the little grin that sprung up on his face as he put the items into his inventory. He then spent the next few minutes collecting his spent kunai and shuriken, at least those he could find. He lost eleven shuriken and seven kunai since the training field began. Then he refilled his equipped stock from the extras in his inventory. All that set, he renewed his [Chakra Reinforcement] before moving on to toward the rendezvous location Mizuki had set.

It didn't take long to arrive by the shack he was told about, upon arriving a timer started showing 00:20:00.00 and started counting down.

**Objective completed: Awarded 2000 Exp.**

**Quest Update.**

**Quest Alert: A Rank Mission**

**Knowledge is power: Acquire the Forbidden Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's Library.**

**Objectives: **

**Infiltrate the Hokage's Library.**

**Escape undeterred with the Forbidden Scroll of Seals.**

**Bring the Forbidden Scroll of Seals to the secret location.**

**Select and learn a skill from [Forbidden Scroll of Seals] Skill Catalogue.**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus: Distract the Sandaime and escape his wrath**

**Bonus: ?**

**Completion Award: 2000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp for Bonus Objective**

**10000 Ryo upon completion of all objectives**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Completion Failure: Capture and Imprisonment**

Naruto was nearly drooling at the new objective. Naruto knew that the [Forbidden Scroll of Seals] was loaded with dangerous and powerful jutsu and seals. That Naruto was going to get to learn from it was awesome.

Naruto quickly took it out of his inventory.

**You've obtained the skill catalogue [Forbidden Scroll of Seals].**

**Would you like to open the catalogue?**

"Hell yeah!" shouted Naruto, tapping the 'Confirm (Y)' button as fast as he could.

**[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu]**

A powerful bunshin technique in which the user creates corporeal copies of themselves. Each capable of independent action and with their own CP pool can even use any technique you already know. Requires 2000 CP.

**[Kage Buki no Jutsu]**

Creates physical duplicates of a thrown weapon capable of inflicting a great deal of area of effect damage. Requires 2000 CP.

**[?]**

**?**

**[?]**

**?**

**[?]**

**?**

**[?]**

**?**

Naruto was miffed to see the rest of the scroll filled with question marks. Generally that meant the techniques were beyond his reach. And the two that remained required more CP than he currently had unless he spent every last stat point he had which pretty much made the decision for him. Naruto dumped the rest of the points into the INT stat then went back to the scroll.

It was not an easy choice, one was a major AoE while the other would give him the ability to create another fighter to work alongside him and even use jutsu.

**You have selected [Kage Bunshin no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto hesitated for a second before pressing the 'Confirm (Y)'.

**You've obtained the skill 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'.**

**[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: ½ total CP]**

Kage Bunshin are corporeal copies capable of everything you are include fighting, using jutsu and learning new things. The first kage bunshin will reduce your CP by ½ and each additional kage bunshin's thereafter will reduce the kage bunshin's CP by ½. For example, if you have CP: 2000, one kage bunshin will have CP: 1000, but one hundred Kage Bunshin will have CP: 10. Kage bunshin will dispel with one solid hit or when they run out of chakra, if they die by being hit, the unused CP will return to your CP pool.

**Objective completed: Awarded 2000 Exp.**

Naruto had to read that description a few times to make sure he understood what he learned. He was itching to try it out and according to the timer he still had a lot of time left, at least ten minutes. Then a thought occurred to Naruto. "Can I learn the other technique in the scroll? I mean, I've got lots of time right?" Naruto picked up the scroll again.

**You've obtained the skill catalogue [Forbidden Scroll of Seals].**

**Would you like to open the catalogue?**

Naruto nearly cackled with joy. He tapped the 'Confirm (Y)' and the scroll list reappeared.

**[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu]**

**A powerful bunshin technique in which the user creates corporeal copies of themselves. Each capable of independent action and with their own CP pool can even use any technique you already know. Requires 2000 CP. (Cannot learn again, already known)**

**[Kage Buki no Jutsu]**

**Creates physical duplicates of a thrown weapon capable of inflicting a great deal of area of effect damage. Requires 2000 CP.**

**[?]**

**?**

**[?]**

**?**

**[?]**

**?**

**[?]**

**?**

Naruto grinned regardless and selected the [Kage Buki no Jutsu] skill.

**You have selected [Kage Buki no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

"Duh, yeah," he said, pressing impatiently on the accept button.

**You've obtained the skill 'Kage Buki no Jutsu'.**

**[Kage Buki no Jutsu (Active/Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 10 per copy]**

A powerful area of effect technique limited that makes physical copies of your weapons.

Passively increase AoE accuracy 5%

Naruto laughed with absolute glee.

**Bonus objective completed: Awarded 2000 Exp**

Naruto was happy about all the experience he was getting but he could help but feel a little nervous about it all.

**Quest Update.**

**Quest Alert: A Rank Mission**

**Knowledge is power: Acquire the Forbidden Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's Library.**

**Objectives: **

**Infiltrate the Hokage's Library.**

**Escape undeterred with the Forbidden Scroll of Seals.**

**Bring the Forbidden Scroll of Seals to the secret location.**

**Select and learn a skill from [Forbidden Scroll of Seals] Skill Catalogue.**

**Protect the [Forbidden Scroll of Seals]**

**?**

**Bonus: Distract the Sandaime and escape his wrath**

**Bonus: Select and learn an additional skill from the [Forbidden Scroll of Seals] Skill Catalogue.**

**Completion Award: 2000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp for Bonus Objective**

**10000 Ryo upon completion of all objectives**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Completion Failure: Capture and Imprisonment**

Naruto hadn't even noticed the timer had expired during his celebration and self-reflection.

"Naruto," yelled the all too familiar and all too angry voice of Iruka.

"I found you," replied Naruto, speaking without Naruto choosing to do so.

"Idiot, I found you," yelled Iruka. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Do I get the extra credit now? I learned a jutsu from the scroll so I get bonus points on my test right. That's how it works, isn't it?"

Iruka's eyes widened. "Who? Who told you that?"

"Mizuki-sensei, he told me about this scroll and this place," answered Naruto, a moment later Iruka shoved Naruto out of the way and was hit by several kunai, thankfully nothing vital was hit.

Naruto watched Iruka's HP drop slightly but not enough to kill him.

"I'm impressed you found this place, Iruka," said Mizuki, mock surprise in his voice saying otherwise.

"I see how it is," said Iruka, his voice slightly strained by the obvious pain he was in.

"Naruto, give me that scroll," ordered Mizuki.

"What the . . . what's going on here?" asked Naruto, it was starting to feel like he was stuck in a cut scene of some kind given that his answers weren't given under his own power.

"Naruto, never give him that scroll!" counter ordered Iruka, his leg bleeding pretty heavily as he yanked out one of the kunai that was only moments ago impaled in his leg. "It's a dangerous object that contains forbidden ninjutsu. Mizuki used you in order to get it for himself."

"Wha . . ."

"Naruto, Iruka is only afraid of you having that scroll," said Mizuki, he was clearly lying about after everything Naruto had already seen and experienced that night but even still, it was like his body was on moving and active of its own accord.

"Huh?"

"Don't let him fool you, Naruto."

"I will tell you the truth."

"Don't you dare, it's forbidden," Iruka cried out, clearly worried now about what Mizuki was about to say.

"Thirteen years ago a rule was created. A rule about you that everyone but you already knows."

"Everyone but me? What the hell are you talking about?

"Stop it, Mizuki!" shouted Iruka, desperation clear on his face.

"This rule is to prevent anyone from telling you the truth about what you are. Do you want to know?"

"What? What am I?"

"You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune that nearly destroyed the village thirteen years ago and that killed the beloved Yondaime Hokage," said Mizuki hatefully. "You even killed Iruka's parents."

There it was, the reason everyone hated him. The reason he was an outcast. The reason he was so very alone in the world.

"How dare you?" hissed Iruka angrily at Mizuki.

"And now I'm going to kill you and become a hero to the village," said Mizuki, pulling one of the giant shuriken from his back.

Naruto's body tried to turn and run even though all he really wanted right then was to beat the ever living shit out of Mizuki. His body ended up cowering, expecting to be impaled by the shuriken Mizuki threw, instead he felt tears on his face. When he looked up, he saw Iruka protecting him. That Iruka had taken the hit for him.

"Run, take the scroll and protect it at all cost," ordered Iruka.

Naruto's body once again automatically ran through the forest, eventually hiding to catch his breath. It just happened that Iruka and Mizuki entered a clearing near his hiding space.

"How did you know I wasn't Iruka? Tell me, Naruto," demanded Iruka who after a sudden puff of smoke was revealed to be Mizuki.

Naruto watched himself stumble backwards and lean against a tree then also change into the real Iruka in another puff of smoke.

"Because, I was the real Iruka."

"I see. I just don't get you. Why would you protect the one who killed your family?"

"I'm not going to let an idiot like you get that scroll," spat Iruka angrily.

"You're the idiot, Naruto is the same as me," retorted Mizuki. "Anyone who has that scroll can do anything they want. It's the same with that monster, Kyuubi, would take advantage of the power of that scroll."

"Ah, you're right . . ."

Naruto instantly felt a piece of his heart break that Iruka would think of him like that. There was no way it could be true. Naruto wished so badly he could control his own body but he was forced to sit there and listen.

". . . he would do that if he was the Kyuubi. But Naruto is different, he's one of my best students. He works hard to achieve what he's gotten. He's not the Kyuubi, he's Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure."

Naruto couldn't control the tears that flowed at hearing such kind words from his sensei. Damned the game for making him do it, even as he stood from his hiding spot under his own power.

Naruto spied around the side of the tree to see Mizuki was preparing to finish Iruka off.

**Objective completed: Awarded 2000 Exp**

**Quest Update.**

**Quest Alert: A Rank Mission**

**Knowledge is power: Acquire the Forbidden Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's Library.**

**Objectives: **

**Infiltrate the Hokage's Library.**

**Escape undeterred with the Forbidden Scroll of Seals.**

**Bring the Forbidden Scroll of Seals to the secret location.**

**Select and learn a skill from [Forbidden Scroll of Seals] Skill Catalogue.**

**Protect the [Forbidden Scroll of Seals].**

**Protect Iruka, defeat Mizuki.**

**Bonus: Distract the Sandaime and escape his wrath**

**Bonus: Select and learn an additional skill from the [Forbidden Scroll of Seals] Skill Catalogue.**

**Completion Award: 2000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp for Bonus Objective**

**10000 Ryo upon completion of all objectives**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Completion Failure: Capture and Imprisonment**

"Heh, I was going to do that anyway," said Naruto. His [Chakra Sprint] and [Chakra Reinforcement] activating nearly automatically. Naruto charged out and sucker punched Mizuki putting as much power into it as he could.

Naruto was pleased to see Mizuki tumble end over end away from him and the giant shuriken go flying off in the distance.

"You're not going to lay a finger on Iruka-sensei," said Naruto coldly. "Iruka-sensei, hold on to this," Naruto tossed the [Forbidden Scroll of Seals] to him. "I'm going to kick Mizuki-teme's ass now."

Iruka was so surprised and started he didn't really register the scroll flying toward him until it hit him in the gut causing him to cough.

"Going to kick my ass now are you?" asked Mizuki, recovering from the initial attack.

Naruto used his [Observe] to see the man's stats.

**Name: Touji Mizuki**

**Class: Traitor**

**Title: Chuunin**

**Level: LV22 Next Level: 15.42%**

**Affiliation: ?**

**HP: 650/1000**

**CP: 1200/1200**

**STR: 65**

**VIT: 100**

**DEX: 65**

**INT: 120**

**WIS: 65**

**LUK: 1**

**Status: Missing-Nin (-35% to mission pay, +35% to personal bounty), Ruthless (+15% to damage, -15% to reputation gains)**

**Touji Mizuki was an assistant instructor at the KSA. He used his position to gather information on the youth of Konoha to sell to the highest bidder. He is a traitor of the highest caliber.**

**Bounty: 15000 Ryo Dead or Alive**

So Iruka had managed to weaken him a little at some point but he still had a lot of stats for Naruto to overcome. But Naruto didn't particularly care at the moment. He wanted to do as much damage as possible to the traitor and he had two new jutsu burning a hole in pocket for almost an hour now. The question was how many kage bunshin should he make so that they could still use [Kage Buki]. Ten clones would be able to make ten weapon copies while Naruto made one hundred. That should be enough right.

"[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu]," Naruto said aloud for no other reason than to fuck with the traitorous prick. And with those words ten perfect copies of Naruto shimmered into existence. "Surround him," Naruto ordered his clones as he continued to glare at Mizuki.

"Ten times nothing is still nothing," said Mizuki coldly.

"We'll see about that," said Naruto, his hands already drawing a kunai from his leg pouch, an action mimicked by his clones. Naruto threw the weapon at the very cocky Mizuki. The man just stood there expecting to easily dodge the kunai when Naruto's body did two quick hand seals. "[Kage Buki no Jutsu]." Suddenly that one Kunai turned into a hundred kunai and Mizuki's eyes widened in terror as Naruto's clones did the same damned thing and while there were less kunai it still cut off all his escape routes.

Naruto blanched a little when Mizuki took the full brunt of the kunai swarm causing the man's HP to immediately drop to zero.

**Objective completed: Awarded 2000 Exp**

**Completion Awarded: 10000 Exp, 10000 Ryo, +500 reputation with Konoha.**

**Bounty Awarded: 15000 Ryo for Touji Mizuki, +100 reputation with Konoha.**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

All told, it wasn't too bad of a day in spite of all the nasty crap he suddenly had to deal with. Three levels, two new jutsu, one genin rank achievement . . . obliterating Mizuki and saving Iruka-sensei . . . . priceless.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV15** Next Level: **0.01%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **2113/2113

**CP: **2128/2128

**STR: **30 (18.00)

**VIT: **33 (28.30)

**DEX: **30 (18.00)

**INT: **48 (13.30)

**WIS: **30 (6.00)

**LUK: ?**

**DEF: 82 (20.50)**

**SPD: 10 (25.00)**

**Status: ? **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +?% experience to [?] Skill), **? **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of the Konoha Academy having failed the graduation twice before while clearly not prepared to graduate. His past is shrouded in mysteries for him to uncover. **

**Point: **5

**Ryo: **54750


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

A/N: Hello, so there seems to be some confusion to Naruto's current stat points. So, he started test day with five unspent points, by the time he gets to learning from the scroll he gained two more levels putting him up to 15 points to spend. To meet the CP requirements he uses all 15 points to increase his INT boosting his CP the extra 150 points. Now, in regards to Kage Bunshin and Kage Buki, the scroll stated the requirements was 2000 CP, not that the technique used that much but that he needed that much just to learn it.

A/N 2: So a while ago someone pointed out the common term in gaming is 'Tank' for a defensive character. While that is absolutely true, how in the world would I explain what a tank is in the Narutoverse? So chose to use 'Shield' as the descriptor feeling it would fit better.

A/N 3: Last note, I promise. So I will be rotating the information at the end of each chapter. I will always put his current Status and then either Equipment, Inventory, or some Skills

Naruto sat in the Hokage's office, feeling like he was six again and had been caught setting up a bucket over the old man's door for a prank. Only this time, Naruto was in real trouble and would be lucky to make it out alive.

"So, Naruto-kun, you've had quite the adventure tonight?" asked the Hokage.

Naruto wasn't sure if it was a trick question or not but answered all the same. "Yeah, it was an adventure, not all good either."

"Yes, you saw tonight one of the darker aspects of shinobi life. Traitors come and go and they all must be dealt with eventually. In spite of your horrendous mistake you have done a great service to this village in putting permanent stop to him, hard though it may have been."

Naruto hadn't really computed that he'd killed Mizuki until the Hokage said it just then. He'd never killed before or thought he'd have to. But that wasn't entirely true either, on some level it had to of occurred to him that he would probably have to kill as a shinobi but then again he never thought it would happen so soon or that it would be so easy to do. "I didn't mean . . . I killed him?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun, you did indeed. I understand this may difficult for you but know I'll be here for you if you need someone to talk to about it. But for now, we need to discuss tonight's events."

"I understand, jiji," said Naruto morosely. "So, what's my punishment?"

"I don't think punishment will really be necessary this time but please, don't let this ever happen again."

"Of course not," said Naruto. "I had no idea Mizuki was trying to trick me, I had no reason not to trust him."

"And that is exactly why you are not in trouble. It is also what allows me to protect you from certain elements within the village."

"Because of me being Kyuubi?" asked Naruto.

"You are not now, nor have you ever been the Kyuubi. That beast is sealed within you," explained the old man. "I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did. I would have preferred to sit down with you after you took your genin ID picture. So, I'm sure you have questions, now's the time to ask them."

Naruto frowned while he thought about the situation. "Why me?"

"I can't tell you that, I just know that the fourth had absolute faith you could take on the burden. Plus, you're an Uzumaki."

"What does that mean exactly?"

"You are one of the last survivors of the Uzumaki Clan. The Uzumaki Clan bloodline is one of the only bloodlines capable of restraining the Kyuubi. Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi have always been members of the Uzumaki Clan."

"Jinchuuriki?"

"Jinchuuriki is the term applied to those who have a biju sealed inside of them. There have been two other Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi before you?"

"What happened to them?"

"Uzumaki Mito passed of extreme old age at nearly one hundred and fifty years of age. The second Jinchuuriki was Uzumaki Kushina. She passed the night you were born."

"Was she . . . was she my mother?"

"Yes, she was. We don't know everything that transpired the night of your birth that released the Kyuubi from her but it most certainly took her life."

"I see, and my father?"

"I can't say," answered the old man, but Naruto could see he was holding something back.

"Can't or won't?" Naruto finally asked, it was quite rude to ask but he needed to nonetheless.

"Both," said Sarutobi. "Please let this go. There are some secrets that must stand."

Naruto frowned, he didn't care for that answer at all. "That's some bull shit," he grumbled.

"Maybe it is bull shit but my word on this is law. Understood?" The Hokage effectively put the subject to rest then and there.

"Yeah, I understand. I don't like it at all, but I understand." Naruto wasn't happy about and with good reason but he didn't really have any choice in the matter.

"Now, as to the skills you learned from the [Forbidden Scroll of Seals]. I must caution you to be careful with how you use them. They can be a great asset but also quite dangerous. Please be careful of chakra exhaustion, it could kill you if you're not careful."

"I understand, I have tons of chakra, probably because of the Kyuubi. It's also why I couldn't ever perform the stupid bunshin we learn at the academy."

"Oh, if you knew that, why didn't you tell me about that earlier?"

"Well, you're busy and stuff, besides, I asked Iruka-sensei and he said that having too much chakra wasn't a problem, I just need more control. Unfortunately the [Leaf Sticking] didn't even come close to giving me enough control."

"I see," said the Hokage, rubbing his chin in thought. "Then I suppose it's a good thing you learned [Kage Bunshin no Jutsu], isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I still need to improve my control more," Naruto added, mimicking the old man in rubbing his chin.

"You could always check out the library," suggested the Hokage.

"Yeah, as if that place would even let me in. Most of Konoha hates me because of the Kyuubi. I can barely buy groceries and even then the stuff is mostly expired or almost expired and twice the normal price. If not for Ichiraku Ramen, I'd have probably starved years ago," explained Naruto.

The room temperature seemed to drop in a second to absolute zero causing Naruto to shiver uncontrollably. He looked up at the Hokage, to see such rictus as he'd never seen on another human being's face before. It would haunt him for years to come, that rage and anger.

"Would you mind repeating that?" demanded the Hokage.

Naruto did as asked.

"How long has this been going on?

"I don't know, since before I can remember."

"Is there anything else that has happened I should know about? Has anyone hurt you?"

"No, no one hurt me, I mean sometime people would throw rotted fruit and vegetables at me if I lingered too long in the market district and the occasional drunk would take a swing at me but I never really got hurt." Naruto tried to calm the old man down, to downplay it a bit. He didn't want to get anyone in trouble.

"And at the academy?" asked Sarutobi.

Now this one made Naruto hesitate. He was honestly still miffed by all the stuff he was taught incorrectly, things that only thanks to being able to learn from the skill books was he able to correct. And if he opened up that can of worms he'd have to explain everything to the Hokage, someone he trusted absolutely but at the same time it made him slightly nervous to even bring it up.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun, you can tell me anything. I hope you know that."

Naruto took a deep breath and told him about the sabotage he received from the academy.

"I see, well then. I'll see if I can get you a tutor to fix those mistakes. We won't be able to fix it in a week before team assignments but we should be able to fix it over the course of this year."

"Well, I sort of already fixed it."

"Oh, and how did you manage that?"

This was it, the time he either lied through his teeth to the old man or spilled the whole story. Looking at the man he looked to as a grandfather, Naruto knew he couldn't lie so he told him. Everything.

An hour later Sarutobi was studying Naruto's appearance very carefully. He could see that Naruto had made a great many changes since January. His jumpsuit was gone, he was more collected, and he was clearly quite a bit more capable. That said he still had some doubts about Naruto's claim. The easiest way to confirm his story though would be to test it.

"Wait here," said Sarutobi, standing and walking toward the door to his library. He returned a moment later with a small scroll which he handed to Naruto.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Uzumaki Beginner Fuinjutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

"You want me to learn this?" asked Naruto, looking back up at the old man.

"That's right."

"Even though it will destroy the scroll?" asked Naruto, trying to be certain. He wouldn't want to be responsible for destroying something possibly priceless.

"It's fine, it's part of your birthright anyway," said Sarutobi.

Naruto only paused momentarily before tapping the 'Confirm (Y)' button.

**You cannot learn this skill.**

**Required [Advanced Fuinjutsu] LvMax.**

"Um, it says I can't learn it until I get [Advanced Fuinjutsu] to the maximum level," explained Naruto.

"Good, that means you can't learn stuff you're not ready to know. You can keep that scroll until you can use it. Now why don't you try this one instead," offered the Hokage, holding out a different scroll.

Naruto took it in hand excited to be learning something new.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Beginner Fuinjutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto once again looked up at the Hokage just to make sure it was still okay. He received a kind smile and a nod in return. So Naruto pushed the button.

**You've obtained the professional skill 'Fuinjutsu'.**

**You've learned the following seal formulas:**

**[Kibaku Fuda Grade 1] – A low quality explosive tag. Stats: 15-35 explosive damage, 5 meter explosive radius.**

**[Storage Scroll Grade 1] – A low quality storage scroll. Can hold up to 20 kilograms of material.**

**[+15 DEF to Chest] – Improve your gear by increasing the defense provided by 15 points.**

**[+2 DEX to Wrist/Forearm] – Improve your gear by increasing the dexterity provided by 2 points.**

**[+10 SPD to Feet] – Improve your gear by increasing the speed provided by 10 points.**

**[+20 VIT to Legs] – Improve your gear by increasing the vitality provide by 20 points.**

The scroll went up in flames and smoke as Naruto expected and as he'd warned the Hokage.

"Okay, now make me a Kibaku Fuda," ordered Sarutobi.

Naruto brought up the skills menu and tapped on the [Fuinjutsu] skill then on the [Kibaku Fuda Grade 1].

**Requires Chakra Paper x1, Chakra Ink x1.**

"Says I need Chakra Paper and Ink," said Naruto, not noticing that the Hokage had already placed a bottle and a small stack of tag size sheets of paper in front of him.

Naruto grinned sheepishly taking the offered items, making them vanish into his inventory a moment later. Then he tried again.

As if on autopilot Naruto took out one of the tag size sheets of paper and the ink bottle and brush. He dipped the brush into the ink and began to rapidly draw a seal on the paper. Naruto noticed a progress bar pop up just above the paper he was drawing on. It took about thirty seconds for the progress bar to finish.

**You've obtained [Kibaku Fuda Grade 1].**

The stuff Naruto was using disappeared back into his inventory again including the explosive tag which he then pulled back out of his inventory and handed to the Hokage.

"Well, well, well, this is quite the surprise," said the old man, scrutinizing the seal. "This isn't too bad at all. I do believe you were telling me the truth before, even more so now."

"I wouldn't lie to you," protested Naruto.

"I don't think you would," said Sarutobi, handing the tag back to Naruto. "But you have to admit, it is a bit farfetched."

"You're telling me," said Naruto. "Still, it is pretty badass don't you think?"

"It can be a very powerful tool," said Sarutobi. "Just don't let that power go to your head."

"Yeah, no kidding. My [Observe] skill has really shown me the difference between me and others. Hell, I show your level as '?'."

"A very useful tool, very advantageous," said Sarutobi appreciatively, it really was a fantastic skill to have. "Now, you've proven it works and even learned a valuable skill, what will you do with it next?"

"Well, I need to keep training. But obviously I need some way of getting skill books and scrolls since I can't really buy them anywhere and the quests are way too sporadic to count on to give me any."

"Hmm, I see what you mean. But I can provide you something on occasion, specifically in regards to the Fuinjutsu books. I could even tell your team leader to give you instruction via scrolls specifically, it should help out some," offered the Hokage.

"Really? You could do that?" asked Naruto.

"I can," said the Hokage, smiling kindly at the young man.

"What about elemental jutsu?" asked Naruto, curiously.

"And what element would you want to learn? Hmm, have you even thought of that?"

"All of them of course," answered Naruto as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And therein lies the problem. Say you decide to make fire your primary elemental jutsu, you go and learn a bunch of them. Then what if you find out you actually have a wind affinity? Do you know what would happen?"

"Um, no."

"I thought as much. Until you can tell me the answer to those questions I don't think you need to worry much about elemental jutsu."

"Right, which brings us back to the library I can't get into," said Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, my boy, have a little faith in this old man. By the end of today you won't have any issues getting into the library."

"You mean tomorrow, it's getting kind of late isn't it?"

"Naruto-kun, it is tomorrow already. It is well after midnight and as such, I think it's time you head home and got some sleep. You've had a very trying day."

Naruto blinked in surprise at finding out just how late it was. He glanced up at the wall clock to see it was indeed well past midnight already.

"So, you go on home and make sure you get your picture taken tomorrow for your genin id. We'll talk again after that and see what we can do to work on your situation."

"You got it, jiji."

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto woke up happy to get his day underway. He had so much to do. He had to train up the three bonus points to each of his stats which would include paying a visit to Shikamaru. But first things first, so much happened yesterday he hadn't had much chance to check his skills, stats and inventory.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level:** LV15** Next Level: **0.01%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **2113/2113

**CP: **2128/2128

**STR: **30 (18.00)

**VIT: **33 (28.30)

**DEX: **30 (18.00)

**INT: **48 (13.30)

**WIS: **30 (6.00)

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **82 (20.50)

**SPD: **10 (25.00)

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kenjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but sill mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **5

**Ryo:** 54750

At first Naruto was a bit confused by the change to his status. More specifically, that his two mystery status had updated with actual names. And his description was altered. His talk with the Hokage certainly filled in a lot blanks but he didn't realize how much he'd learned as a result.

Still, this was something Naruto could focus on later. For now his priority was to check the rest of the changes he's incurred.

**[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Active) Lv2 Exp: 0.00% CP: ½ total CP]**

Kage Bunshin are corporeal copies capable of everything you are include fighting, using jutsu and learning new things. The first kage bunshin will reduce your CP by ½ and each additional kage bunshin's thereafter will reduce the kage bunshin's CP by ½. For example, if you have CP: 2000, one kage bunshin will have CP: 1000, but one hundred Kage Bunshin will have CP: 10. Kage bunshin will dispel with one solid hit or when they run out of chakra, if they die by being hit, the unused CP will return to your CP pool.

**[Kage Buki no Jutsu (Active/Passive) Lv5 Exp: 78.31% CP: 9 per copy]**

A powerful area of effect technique limited that makes physical copies of your weapons.

Passively increase AoE accuracy 5%

A few other skills advanced a few levels as well, specifically his [Taunt], [Chakra Sprint], [Chakra Reinforcement], [Double Pierce], and [Buki no Arashi]. That was actually a lot more advancement than he thought he'd gotten.

Even with all of that, it was his forehead protector's description that made him most curious.

**Konoha Forehead Protector – Award upon graduation from the Konoha Shinobi Academy, this acts as a sign of your village. Wear it proudly. Wear it for access to the various training fields around Konoha. Stats: +7 DEF, Access to Konoha Training Fields up to level 25.**

What did it mean 'access to Konoha Training Fields up to level 25'? Was that what caused Naruto to get into that fight with Jorogumo? Did this mean that 'Konoha Training Fields' were dungeons in his gamer life? He'd have to ask jiji and maybe Shikamaru about this.

So after a quick breakfast, Naruto went to the Shinobi Registration Office, got his picture taken and proceeded to meet with the old man again.

"Hello again, Naruto-kun," greeted the old man. "Did you sleep okay after yesterday?"

"I slept fine actually, I expected nightmares or something like they told us to expect in the academy. But it was like, as soon as my body hit the bed I was asleep then a moment later I was awake and fully rested. Actually, I can't really remember the last time I had a dream while I slept."

"Hmm, this may be part of your gamer ability. You said one of your skills was [Gamer's Mind] yes? Something that allows you calmly and logically think. Something about giving you a peaceful state of mind also, right? Perhaps this let your mind process and accept what happened faster than most would be able to."

"Could it really? I mean, I thought the brain doctors that visited said that if we don't suffer after a kill then we were probably psychopaths or sociopaths or something like that and that we would need to go into a special program?"

"That depends, are you sorry you killed Mizuki?"

"Sorry?" Naruto asked, stopping to think about it. "Not really, he was a bad guy and wanted to kill Iruka-sensei. I mean, I don't like that I killed him but it's probably better he's dead, right?"

"Hmm, your answer was much more complex than I expected but it does prove to me that your [Gamer's Mind] does indeed help you manage such things. The doctors that came were more concerned about you not feeling anything at all, like stepping on a bug, you just don't care. You obviously care that you took a life." The Hokage explained carefully.

"I see, so I'm good then?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun, you're fine. Now, let's see the picture," he said holding a hand out toward Naruto.

Naruto handed him the registration picture.

"Good, I was half afraid you were going to have kabuki war paint or some nonsense like that," said the man, studying the picture.

"Oh man, why didn't think of that? I was so distracted by everything else it never even occurred to me. Can I retake my picture?"

"No," said the Hokage flatly. "I'm sorry I ever said anything."

"Anyway, I wanted to ask about something I discovered this morning and kind of last night."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"So, last night when I got to Training Field 13 I got a system warning telling I was entering the area and that the area was populated with Chakra Spiders. Anyway, I had to fight through several groups of them until I came to a boss spider called Jorogumo."

"The Prostitute of legend?" asked Sarutobi. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I fought and killed her and when she died, she kind of rapidly decayed leaving behind loot."

"Loot?"

"You know, stuff like Ryo and Chakra Venom to use on my weapons," explained Naruto. "So anyway, when I reviewed my skills and stats this morning I also looked at my gear to see if it needed repairs. When I looked closer my forehead protector had a stat on it that gives me access to Konoha Training Fields up to level 25. I thought it was weird so here I am asking you. It seems to me that training fields might be like game dungeons."

"I see," said the old man, sitting back in his chair and lighting up his pipe. "Well, I may not know much about these games you love so much but from the sound of it I believe you're correct but the only way to find out for sure is to try another training field. There are plenty available with a wide variety of chakra mutations that we let roam simply because they are good for training."

"Are all the fields filled with chakra mutations?"

"No, we have ten fields that are pretty much kept empty and are used strictly for team training or learning and creating jutsu. Fields eleven through forty are all filled with plenty of nasty business. There are fields higher than that but they are reserved for special events and large team training."

"Cool, I think," said Naruto. "I'll have to check out some of the other fields later, maybe take Shikamaru with me."

"Does Shikamaru-kun know?"

"Yeah, he was the first one I told but he was already suspicious something had changed with me. He actually helped me a ton with training, speaking of I'm going to have to bust my ass this week to gain all my bonus stat points," Naruto added the last part more for his own benefit than the Hokage's.

"Well then, I shouldn't keep you any longer," said the Hokage, effectively ending the conversation.

"Just one more question before I go?" requested Naruto.

"Go ahead."

"Do you know of a way to recover chakra faster than just resting?" asked Naruto, it's something he'd been thinking about for a while but didn't even know where to go or who to ask.

"Hmm, you could use hyorogan but no more than one a day and that probably wouldn't be very effective now would it? Let me think on it, see if I can find anything useful for you," offered the old man.

"Thanks, jiji, I'll let you get back to work now. See you later," said Naruto cheerfully, waving goodbye to the old man as he left the office.

Once outside the Hokage Tower Naruto's first stop was Higurashi Weapons for some supplies that hopefully they would sell.

"Naruto, surprised to see you here today. You need something?"

"[Fuinjutsu] supplies," he answered simply.

"Sure," said the large man. "I keep that stuff in back, not many ask for it and I don't feel the need to take up valuable shelf space."

"Thanks, I need more ink, chakra papers, and blank scrolls," Naruto read off the list he'd assemble that morning.

"Oh, going all out huh?" asked the man.

"Have you ever known me to half ass anything?"

"No, I suppose not," said Hiten, an odd gleam in his eyes. "Seeing as you're not one to half ass things, I suppose you'll be replacing your kunai and shuriken with standard issue as opposed to that academy crap then?"

"Of course . . . wait, what?"

"Good to hear, I'll just bring you a full genin kit, minus the kibaku fuda since you can make your own cheaper than I'll sell them." The man grinned happily as he trudged into the back before returning a few minutes later with a large backpack and box.

Naruto blinked owlishly at everything the man had just set on the counter. "What the hell is all of that?"

"So glad you asked," said Hiten, smiling proudly. "First up, in this box is a fuinjutsu starter kit including twenty blank scrolls, two hundred chakra papers, and ten bottles of chakra ink. The bag contains everything a new genin should possess. You'll find cloaks for cold, temperate and hot weather environment. There is also a tent and sleeping bag. But most importantly you'll get fifty standard issue kunai and two hundred standard issue shuriken. So, that all comes to 44750 Ryo."

Naruto felt his jaw drop. He understood that it was probably a really good deal but damn, did it have to be that expensive. Even with it taking such a large chunk out of his funds, the man was right, it was stuff he should have as a genin and no doubt this was all going to be higher quality stuff than anything he currently has.

"Fine you swindler, I'll take it but don't think for a second I won't remember this," said Naruto, slapping the large wad of cash down on the counter. After that he was at least able to sell his left over academy issue kunai and shuriken but didn't get even close to the same money back.

The man grinned, "Pleasure doing business with you."

Naruto grumbled the whole way home.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV15** Next Level: **0.01%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **2113/2113

**CP: **2128/2128

**STR: **30 (18.00)

**VIT: **33 (168.30)

**DEX: **30 (18.00)

**INT: **48 (153.30)

**WIS: **30 (6.00)

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **82 (20.50)

**SPD: **10 (25.00)

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster** (-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kenjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but sill mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point:** 5

**Ryo: **10550

**Equipment****:**

**Head****:**

**Konoha Forehead Protector – **Award upon graduation from the Konoha Shinobi Academy, this acts as a sign of your village. Wear it proudly. Wear it for access to the various training fields around Konoha. Stats: +7 DEF, Access to Konoha Training Fields up to level 25.

**Face****:**

**Empty**

**Neck****:**

**Empty**

**Chest****:**

**Burnt Orange and Black Light Armor – **A tough short-sleeve jacket covered in thick cloth and lined with light chain mesh, this armor provides light protection from weapons. Requires Lv10. Stats: +20 DEF, +7 DEX, +7 STR, +7 VIT, +0.50 to speed, DUR 75/75.

**Back****:**

**Empty**

**Legs****:**

**Black Light Armored Pants – **Tough ankle-length pants covered in thick cloth and lined with light chain mesh, this armor provides light protection from weapons. Requires Lv10. Stats: +25 DEF, +8 DEX, +8 STR, +8 VIT, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], DUR 75/75.

**Hands****:**

**Black Fingerless Gloves with Metal Plate – **Tough gloves with a solid gripping surface and some protection. Requires Lv9. Stats: +7 DEF, + 5% to Parry, DUR 50/50.

**Forearm****:**

**Burnt Orange and Black Forearm Guard – **A simple guard for the forearm used for enhanced protection. Requires Lv8. Stats: +5 DEF, DUR 40/40.

**Shin****:**

**Black Shin Guard – **A simple guard for the shin used for enhanced protection. Requires Lv8. Stats: +5 DEF, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], DUR 40/40.

**Feet****:**

**Black Genin Shinobi Sandals – **Made of tough cloth-like material these sandals are perfect for genin as they do not impede flexibility or chakra flow but also offer additional protection. Requires Lv11 Stats: +10 DEF, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], +1.00 to speed, DUR 50/50.

**Leg Pouch****:**

**Standard Issue Kunai (10/10) – **Standard issue kunai for Konoha's active shinobi forces. Good quality kunai for combat use. Stats: 4-8 Damage (melee), 10-15 Damage (ranged).

**Hip Pouch Slot 1****:**

**Standard Issue Shuriken (50/50) – **Standard issue shuriken for Konoha's active shinobi forces. Good quality shuriken for combat use. Stats: 6-8 Damage (ranged).

**Hip Pouch Slot 2****:**

**Kibaku Fuda (1/50) – **A low quality explosive tag. Stats: 15-35 explosive damage, 5 meter explosive radius.

**Hip Pouch Slot 3****:**

**Empty**


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

Naruto spent the rest of morning and into the early afternoon just making explosive tags. The slot in his hip pouch allowed him to hold up to fifty so he made damned sure he had fifty on him, those tags would have come in extremely handy against Jorogumo and he'd be damned if he was ever caught without them again. He'd even gained a couple levels in [Fuinjutsu] for his troubles.

Anyway, with that work done it was time to seek out his friends Shikamaru and Chouji, he had some training to do and they were going to help.

Naruto actually had to search for Shikamaru for a change, he was neither at home or any of his favorite cloud watching spots. So it was much to Naruto's surprise to find him at the KSA obstacle course with Chouji.

"Yo, I've been looking all over for you guys," shouted Naruto, running to join his compatriots.

"Yeah, well, I had some time to think after passing the test yesterday," started Shikamaru. "My techniques are great for support, always have been. The problem is I'm usually a sitting duck until I can catch someone. I decided that I'm going to focus on my dexterity for a while, see how it goes."

"Wow, you're not being lazy," said Naruto in surprise. "What about you Chouji?"

"Well, Shikamaru came to me this morning and talked to me about what I'll probably be doing on any team I join. If he's right and him, Ino and I end up on a team together that means I'm going to have to be the one taking most of the hits to protect them while they use their jutsu. So I need to get tougher and stronger. He's had me running laps all morning and when my legs get tired he has me doing push-ups and sit-ups. I'm so hungry now, I think I might be starving to death already," explained the obviously exhausted young man.

"Wow again. That's awesome guys," said Naruto.

"What about you? Where have you been all day?" asked Shikamaru. "I thought you would have been here early this morning.

"Well, some stuff happened last night and I had to go see the old man this morning after I took my registration picture."

"Did you tell him?" asked Shikamaru, earning a curious look from Chouji.

"Yeah, I did, kind of had to after last night."

"How'd he take it?"

"Take what?" asked Chouji, finally having enough. "What are you guys talking about? I know there's some big secret between you guys but it's really not cool to talk around it like that in front of me."

"You're right, Chouji, sorry," said Shikamaru.

"You're right," Naruto mimicked. "I have I guess a bunch of secrets, some of them I learned last night but there is one I told Shikamaru about a while ago and he's been helping me figure it out. And you're my friend too so I guess I should tell you about it too but it's pretty unbelievable."

"Really?" asked Shikamaru and Chouji at the same time but for entirely different reasons.

"Really," said Naruto. He then proceeded to lay it for Chouji, the whole gamer thing and everything that went along with it.

"Wow," said Chouji when he finished. "I mean wow. Is this all true?"

"Near as I can tell," said Shikamaru.

"So is it a bloodline or something?" asked Chouji.

"Something else, I told the Hokage about it last night and he said it's definitely not an Uzumaki bloodline trait. He's never heard of anything like it before."

"So does that mean you can create a gaming party and stuff?" asked Chouji.

Naruto was surprised by the question. "I . . . I have no idea."

"Troublesome, Naruto, your ability is totally troublesome," groused Shikamaru. "Why don't you give it a try?"

"Party?" asked Naruto aloud but nothing happened. "Form Party? Create Party?"

"Try Team," suggested Chouji.

"Team? Form Team . . ."

**You have formed a 'Team'.**

"Hey, that worked," said Naruto. "Invite Akimichi Chouji."

"Whoa, that is weird," gasped Chouji.

Naruto grinned. "Invite Nara Shikamaru."

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru, moving his hand to tap the 'Accept Invite' button hovering in the air above him.

Chouji seeing Shikamaru move did the same and tapped the 'Accept Invite' with his hand.

"So what do you guys see?" asked Naruto, eager for some feedback.

"Uzumaki Naruto," read Chouji, squinting his eyes at the air above Naruto's head. "The Gamer. Lv 15."

"Yes, it works, try saying status," encouraged Naruto.

"Status," said Chouji, not sure what he'd get. The large orange window popping up in front of his face was not what he expected.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru seemed to be wordlessly flying through the various information pages, something he'd seen Naruto do several times but at least now he knew what to expect.

"This is so cool," whispered Chouji.

"This is troublesome," said Shikamaru, but a small grin made its way onto his face anyway.

Naruto couldn't help laughing like a loon, he was so excited about the whole thing. Finally his friends could see what he was living with.

"So, Naruto," began Shikamaru. "Level 15 huh? When did that happen? Because I swear you told me you were at level 12 going into the test yesterday."

"Oh man, you would not believe the shit that went down last night," said Naruto, only too excited to tell the guys everything he'd learned minus a few key details such as him being . . . containing the Kyuubi.

Almost an hour later Naruto finished relaying his story to his friends including his conversation with the old man minus the Jinchuuriki details as he'd planned to take that secret to his grave.

"So Mizuki-sensei was a traitor?" asked Chouji for probably the tenth time since he'd found out.

"Yep," said Naruto.

"There is one thing I don't get, you seemed to have glossed over a lot of details, like why Mizuki chose you for it, and the conversation between Iruka and Mizuki and why your status shows some updates?"

Naruto blanched. "I didn't really want to talk about that."

"Well, no point hiding now," said Shikamaru. "Besides you're our friend."

"I hope you still feel that way after I tell you what that's all about." Naruto took a deep breath and began explaining about his mother and the Uzumaki and the details of a Jinchuuriki.

"Wow," said Chouji. "That fucking blows."

"Tell me about it," groused Naruto. "But you guys are okay right? You're still my friends?"

"Moron, of course we are," said Shikamaru. "This just makes you a bit more troublesome. And it explains why you have so many hated reputations in the village."

"Yeah, that was a hard one to accept. I guess a lot of them see me as the Kyuubi and not the one keeping it prisoner," replied Naruto, a bit morosely.

"Well, now what?" asked Chouji.

"I want to check out that training field," said Shikamaru. "Let's see what happens if we go back there."

"I was hoping you guys would want to go check it out," said Naruto, his happy, eager personality back to normal with just those few words.

"Could be fun," said Chouji, shrugging.

"Oh, but before we go, have either of you guys got some explosive tags?"

"I've got ten tags on me," said Chouji.

"I don't really carry them on me, why?" asked Shikamaru.

Naruto quickly opened his inventory and took twenty five of his out and handed them to Shikamaru. "If that field . . . dungeon . . . whatever has reset then you'll want them. I was lucky as hell to get out of there alive yesterday."

"I think I'm having second thoughts," said Chouji, hearing Naruto's near death experience with the whole mess.

"Hey, I was able to solo it yesterday. With three of us it should be a walk in the park," said Naruto, trying assuage his friend's fears.

"Come on, Chouji, we can always just leave," offered Shikamaru, actually trying to encourage his friend to go along.

"Alright, but if I die, I swear I will haunt you both."

"That settles it, Chouji lives at all costs. I don't like ghosts," said Naruto, getting the other two to laugh happily. "It's not funny, I'm being serious."

Naruto led the group to Training Ground 13 easily enough and even got the warning when he entered but with one minor difference.

**Training Field 13 – **A heavily forested area populated with a large number of chakra spiders. Recommended Level: 12. 56:12:41:95

The timer was new and counting down.

"Ah, I think it's got a reset timer on. It won't be up again for a few days."

"I can see the warning, Naruto," said Shikamaru with a sigh.

"What about going to training field 11 or 12 then. They aren't too far from here?" asked Chouji.

"I'm game," said Shikamaru.

"Sure, lead the way, Chouji," said Naruto.

Not much later they entered an open field with a few scattered trees and bushes.

**Training Field 11 – **An open field with sparsely populated trees and shrubbery but plenty of tall grass obscuring a great deal of chakra rodents. Recommended Level: 10.

"Okay, did you all see that warning too?"

"Yeah, so probably going to have chakra rats, maybe some rabbit and squirrels," said Shikamaru.

"I hate chakra squirrels," said Chouji. "Those nuts they throw hurt like hell. Occasionally some of those little bastards get into my Uncle's almond farm and have to be cleared out. It's not fun."

"Let's just see what we get," said Naruto, just as he felt something bite down hard on the back of his ankle. "Ow, you little fucker," howled Naruto, quickly pulling a kunai and driving it down into the head of the rat that just bit him. "Why do they always go for the freaking ankles like that?"

"Hey, it says I got Exp for that," said Chouji, his finger following blue letters as the float up and disappeared.

Meanwhile, Naruto had killed four more of the rats before they could sneak up on him or the others again. "Don't just stand there you dopes, get to killing these punks."

And so the slaughter began, rat after rat perished as the came one after the other. Then came rat kings, then queens. They came and didn't stop coming, wave after wave of rat before it suddenly calmed.

"Okay, this is usually where the boss shows up," said Naruto, taking up a defensive stance.

Chouji and Shikamaru mimicked Naruto taking up defensive stances near him.

It started as just a light tremor shaking the ground then quickly grew until it was difficult to keep their feet under them. Finally about ten meters ahead of them the ground burst open and a giant rat appear. It was far and away the ugliest rat Naruto had ever seen. It had horrible growths all over its body, patches of skill that were torn away to show flesh and bone. And the stink from it was absolutely awful.

**Chakra Rat Abomination Lvl 13**

**HP: 1200/1200 CP: 500/500**

**The rare abomination, a chakra mutated creature so far gone it has taken to eating its own kind. They are often drawn out when their food source is threatened.**

"Is that normal?" asked Chouji.

"For my life, yes it is," said Naruto. "You guys ready?"

"Not really but let's kill it anyway," said Shikamaru.

"Tell me what to do, Shikamaru," said Chouji.

"I'll try to hold it still for a minute, you two do as much damage as you can," said Shikamaru, already his shadow stretching across the ground toward the big ugly beast.

Naruto grinned, pulling out his recently made stack of explosive tags. [Chakra Sprint] activated he move forward rapidly and began sticking tag after tag on the beast's body while Chouji was preparing his own jutsu.

"Baika no Jutsu," called Chouji, his body suddenly ballooning. Then he called out, "Nikudan Sensha," and started to spin rapidly with kunai draped around him making him look like a hedgehog on a steroids.

Naruto jumped clear and Chouji suddenly took off toward the rat. Just as Chouji got to it the shadow holding it vanished allowing Chouji to hit it full power to the face and shoulder, grinding into the beast tearing away flesh, fur and blood alike. Eventually the rat fell over and Chouji rolled over it coming to stop just meters away.

Naruto used the opportunity of the rat being down to activate the explosive tags. "Katsu!"

The series of explosions that followed was fairly impressive, especially when one had a critical detonation blowing the head of the rat clean off and showering the field with paste.

"That was awesome!" crowed Naruto excitedly.

"That was overkill," said Shikamaru.

**[Teamwork]'s level has increase by 1.**

**[Teamwork]'s level has increase by 1.**

**Your teammate Nara Shikamaru's level has increased by 1.**

**Your teammate Akimichi Chouji's level has increased by 1.**

"Congrats on the levels guys," said Naruto, happy for his friends. He turned his focus on the decomposing body to see what kind of loot might drop on this guy.

**1500 Ryo**

That was it? That was the whole drop from the rat. Naruto groaned in annoyance and split the money equally taking his 500 then handing Chouji and Shikamaru each their 500.

"What's this?" asked Chouji.

"The loot," answered Naruto.

"These things give loot? Money?" asked Chouji, wide eyed with surprise.

"Yeah, not sure why but I'm not going to question it. Money is money."

"Thanks," said Chouji before looking to see Shikamaru staring hard at something in the air in front of him. "Hey, Shika, what are you looking at?"

"I'm debating what to spend my stat points on," said Shikamaru.

"Stat points? You mean we can spend them ourselves?"

"So it seems," said Shikamaru. "I doubt we'd be able to do the same if we weren't teamed with Naruto.

Chouji quickly opened his own status page.

"Chouji, you should increase your DEX, try to even your stats out a bit," suggested Shikamaru.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm also trying to increase my DEX, make myself a bit more mobile in combat. I need more VIT and INT but I can get that through training, so can you by the way. Especially if we do it while in a group like this cause then Naruto's game experience applies to us and our stats too. We can both pick up around fourteen points in almost everything."

"Really? That's kind of cool," said Chouji, following Shikamaru's advice and upping his DEX.

"So, do you want to try a different training field, this one was kind of crappy."

"It might have been crappy but it was a good learning experience for me and Chouji," said Shikamaru. "It got us some good exposure to what we can expect if we team up with you in the future to clear more of these. I think we should probably train more, get me and Chouji to our level stat cap and then go from there. You need some too don't you? You did gain three levels yesterday right?"

"I'm good for whatever," said Naruto, grinning. "One gives me more levels which makes me stronger, the other gives me more stats which also makes me stronger. It's win-win."

"Right then, let's get back to the KSA training field," said Shikamaru, leading the group away.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji all trained together every day that week leading up to the team assignments. It was the KSA training field daily from start to finish and working heavily on their skills while resting physically.

Naruto had actually capped a few skills again.

**[Chakra Sprint (Active) LvMax CP 20]**

Using chakra to reinforce your leg muscles to grant you a quick burst of speed.

Additional +40 to run speed when Active.

**[Trap (Passive) LvMax]**

Traps are an essential skill to any shinobi. They are used to surprise and confuse enemies and friends alike depending on the situation. They can be used both for fun and for slaughter equally well.

Passively increases Trap effectiveness 20%

Passively increases Trap damage 20%

Passively increases Trap placement 20%

Sadly, Naruto didn't find himself working much on the two kinjutsu he learn despite being really excited to work on them. He just didn't have time with all the training he was doing with his friends. Sadly they didn't run any more training grounds either much to Naruto's irritation. Really, both of them left Naruto feeling a bit miffed. He'd hit his cap in just two days but stuck it out longer with them to get their points instead of clearing training fields for experience and levels.

The biggest change though was the changes to Shikamaru's status 'Lazy Genius'. It changed to now read as simply 'Genius', taking away the -1 to DEX, STR, VIT and doubling his WIS gain per level. As if that wasn't enough it all gave him +25% experience gain to all skills. It really kind of pissed Naruto off a bit.

Chouji had worked hard and was shocked by how much he improved in just one week while teamed up with Naruto. It shouldn't have been physically possible but there it was. He was stronger, faster, and more skilled than he had been at the start of the week.

On the positive side, Naruto did get into the library and checked out a few books on elemental chakra so he could attempt to learn the answer to the old man's questions. However, while he was there he'd found several fuinjutsu formulas that he could learn. He did find a bit of cheat in that regard. He discovered that if he took his time to read the book he would learn the skill and not destroy the book itself but apparently that only worked with formulas, like for [Cooking] and [Fuinjutsu]. Yeah, it slowed things down but it worked just fine. He'd also taken the time to place the various 'Fuin' on his gear to improve them which was actually pretty cool

Still, he was now ready for team assignments, at least as ready as he could be all things considered.

So here he was, checking various classmates level notices above their heads, most of which had gotten stronger, even in just the week since graduation. Naruto was a little disappointed to see Sakura hadn't level up at all, in probably over a month. Naturally Sasuke was a lot stronger, which honestly pissed him off even more. Still, other than Sasuke, Naruto was tied for highest level in class with Shino.

Iruka came into class, he still had some bandages from his injuries the week before but looked considerably better than the last time Naruto had seen him.

"Congratulations to all of you for making it to this point. After today, you will all begin your first real steps into life as a shinobi for Konoha. I expect all of you to serve with pride and honor. Trust your comrades, protect them and let them protect you equally. Today, all of you will be placed into three man teams with a jounin sensei. Please listen closely for your name and the names of your teammates."

Naruto listened as Iruka assigned the various teams. So far it was all the student below level 9 getting assigned together which Naruto thought was a bit odd. Then his name was called.

"Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke," he called out.

Naruto's head hit his desk with a loud thump. Sakura borderline hated him despite his best efforts to befriend her. Sasuke tolerated him but was a prick. It was not cool.

"Team 8, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba," called Iruka.

Now that caught Naruto's attention. Three member of popular clans in the same team but more importantly, all of them were above level 9. Team 9 ended up with three students below level 9 again and then he called Team 10.

"Team 10, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino."

That settled it in Naruto's mind. These teams were fixed for some reason. It was clear to Naruto that three of these teams heavily overpowered the other seven teams. But why and did Shikamaru see the same thing he just did.

If he did, Naruto didn't have a chance to ask when a large bear of a man entered the class room.

"Team 10, you're with me," he ordered, somehow balancing an unlit cigarette at the corner of his mouth when he spoke.

Shikamaru groused as usual but followed Chouji and Ino out of the room to follow their teacher.

The sensei for Team 1, 4, and 9 came next taking their students.

"Team 8, please come with me," said another jounin, this one a beautiful woman with exotic red eyes.

Naruto watched as all of the other students were claimed by their various teachers until only himself, Sasuke, and Sakura remained along with Iruka who was busy cleaning up his desk.

"Oh, Naruto, before I forget. The Hokage wants to see you after you meet your new sensei," said Iruka, putting away the last of his papers and standing to leave.

"Okay Iruka-sensei," said Naruto. "Thanks."

"No problem, see you all around," he said finally leaving.

"Why is our sensei so late?" complained Sakura.

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe he's coming from a mission or something," he suggested.

"I wasn't asking you, Naruto," snapped Sakura.

Naruto felt a bit deflated. "You don't have to be so mean to me. We're a team now which means we have to work together and get along," he said, pouting the whole time.

"Just don't get in my way," said Sasuke coldly.

"Yeah, don't get in our way," echoed Sakura.

"That goes especially for you," said Sasuke, glaring at Sakura. "You're even weaker than he is."

"Dude, not cool," said Naruto. "I get you're a badass but you don't have to be an ass too."

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, turning away from them to look out the window.

Naruto decided now would be a good time to use [Observe] on his teammates.

**Name: **Uchiha Sasuke

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV19** Next Level: **12.45%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **700/700

**CP: **740/740

**STR: **45

**VIT: **70

**DEX:** 76

**INT: **74

**WIS: **46

**LUK: **1

**Status: Unawakened Sharingan **(+2 DEX &amp; +3 INT &amp; +1 WIS per Level),** Avenger** (+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi),** Firebug **(-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10 damage to katon jutsu)

**Uchiha Sasuke is the last loyal surviving member of the infamous Uchiha clan. Well known for their doujutsu the Sharingan which has allowed them to excel as shinobi in the field. His past is clouded by the pain and misery of losing his family so much that vengeance is all that remains to him.**

**Name: **Haruno Sakura

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV9** Next Level: **84.56

**HP: **300/300

**CP: **250/250

**STR: **10

**VIT: **30

**DEX: **20

**INT: **100

**WIS: **150

**LUK: 8**

**Status: Perfect Control **(+15 WIS per level, -50% cost to all jutsu),** Fangirl** (-25% decrease to experience gain, -50% decrease to bonus stat gain), **Book Smart** (+10 INT per level, -75% CP, +25% increase to skill experience).

**Haruno Sakura is the smartest student in class. Though very intelligent she is not very physically gifted. She pines after Uchiha Sasuke and is bitter rivals with Yamanaka Ino for 'Sasuke-kun's affections.**

No matter how much he wishes he could deny it, Sasuke is strong, really strong, stronger than Tenten who easily kicked his ass all those months ago. On the flipside of that was Sakura who no matter how much he wishes he could deny it, she was weak, really weak. She clearly didn't take training very seriously. And that damned 'Fangirl' status was going to be the biggest detriment to her getting any better. But that brought up a whole new question. How the hell could he cure her of it? Could he even cure her of it?

Naruto let all that go for the moment, his sensei should be arriving any minute now. However, when 'any minute now' turned into another hour all bets were off.

"That's it, this guy is getting pranked," said Naruto loudly, his boiling point finally reached. "Sakura, have you got any glitter?"

"What? Why would have any glitter? What kind of question is that?" She demanded, clearly acting affronted.

"I'll take that as a yes, can I have some of it?" he requested, holding a hand out to her.

Sakura frowned before reaching into her hip pouch and producing a small glass bottle filled with the sparkly crap. "I was saving this for . . . "

"I won't use all of it, I only need a little," explained Naruto, taking the bottle.

Naruto then walked to the chalkboard and grabbed an eraser, he then ran the eraser down the ledge picking up as much chalk dust as he could. Walking to the door next, Naruto pull a chair up next to it and proceeded to wedge the eraser in the door. Naruto then opened the glitter bottle ever so carefully so as to not get any on himself and poured a little of the stuff on top of the eraser. Task done, Naruto recapped the bottle and returned it to Sakura before taking his seat again feeling very self-satisfied.

"You know that won't work on him, right? I mean, he is a jounin," said Sakura, looking on skeptically.

"Maybe, but I'd bet it's more likely to succeed given he won't expect something so rudimentary," argued Naruto.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Naruto. "Fine, what's the bet?"

Naruto blinked several times in surprise. He hadn't expected Sakura to actually make a bet out of it. "Really? You want to bet me? Okay, let see . . . Ah, I got it. You have to train with me on Training Field 11 this afternoon, after I meet with the old man."

"And if I win, you can never ask me on a date ever again," said Sakura, feeling some satisfaction at the possibility of getting him to leave her alone.

"Deal," said Naruto, offering his hand to her.

Sakura shook his hand then sat back to wait and watch with eager anticipation.

Unfortunately that eager anticipation faded after another hour of waiting.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I hope I lose the bet," said Sakura, earning a laugh from Naruto.

The sliding of the door snapped Naruto's attention to the door where a man with gravity defying grey hair had stuck his head in just in time to see the eraser hit his head and explode in a puff of chalk and glitter.

Naruto grinned victoriously.

"Hmm, my first impression is that I really hate you guys . . . is that glitter?" he asked as an afterthought.

"Yep," said Naruto. "Don't be late again, it will only escalate from here."

"You, I might kill," he said, trying to brush out the chalk and glitter with his hand only to cause it to spread instead. "Anyway, meet me on the roof," he ordered, vanishing a moment later leaving behind leaves and glitter.

Sakura finally giggled which soon turned in to a laugh that she was joined by Naruto in.

"Idiots," grumbled Sasuke, standing and marching out the door.

Sakura stopped laughing instantly and followed after Sasuke like a lost little puppy.

Naruto stopped laughing a few moments later when he realized he was all alone in the room. He quickly ran to catch up to his teammates and join them on the roof.

Up on the roof Naruto was greeted by the sight of his sensei sitting on a railing reading a little orange book he was all too familiar with. Naruto couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face at the sight.

"Take a seat," the man said without looking up from his book.

Naruto and his team sat down across from the man on one of the rooftop benches. The silence was odd, the man wasn't saying anything, just occasionally turning the page of his book. After a bit of time, he finally closed his book.

"So, let's start with some introductions," he said.

"What do you want to know?" asked Sakura.

"Oh you know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that kind of thing," he explained.

"Why don't you go first, show us how it's done," suggested Sakura.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. What I like and dislike is private. Dreams for the future . . . hmm. I have lots of hobbies."

"All we learned was he name," stated Naruto and Sakura deadpan.

"You go Pinky," he ordered.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, What I like is . . ." she paused to look at Sasuke and giggle. "My dream . . ." she paused again and giggled harder.

"And dislikes?"

"Naruto," she stated rather harshly.

"Seriously?" asked Naruto, looking at her disappointed.

"Go ahead, Blondie," said Kakashi.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, especially ramen from Ichiraku. I don't like the three minutes it takes to make instant ramen or chakra rats, stupid pricks. My hobbies are pranks and training with my friends, Shikamaru and Chouji. My dream is to become Hokage and have everyone acknowledge me."

"Okay, and last, Broody."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, what I like and don't like doesn't matter. I don't have dream, only an ambition, I will kill a certain man."

"I get your brother is an ass for what he did but man, you seriously need to take a fucking pill or something. That can't be healthy," said Naruto, staring at him wide-eyed.

Sasuke instantly glared at Naruto, his mouth nearly snarling. "What the hell would an orphan like you know about loss?"

"As much or more than you, shithead," growled Naruto. "You at least had family, mine was killed the night I was born leaving me with a burden you could never possibly comprehend or understand. So shut the fuck about things you don't understand."

"Mah, mah, that's enough both of you," said Kakashi, placing himself slightly between them just in case.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, looking away.

Naruto narrowed his eyes but resisted taunting the prick any further.

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way. Meet me tomorrow at training field 7 at 6:00AM, we're going to do something just the four of us."

"What are we doing, sensei?" asked Sakura, still nervously glancing between Sasuke and Naruto.

"Survival training," he answered simply.

"But we did that in the academy," protested Naruto.

"Ah, but this time you'll have to survive against me," he replied.

"What? Why?" Naruto all but shouted in shock and protest.

"Well, you're not quite genin yet you see. There is still one more test for you to pass."

"What do you mean?" demanded Naruto.

"Yeah, what was the point of the graduation exam then?" asked Sakura.

"That was just to test for the potential to become genin," he replied. "Anyway, see you all tomorrow morning. Oh, and don't eat breakfast, you might puke." The man then vanished leaving behind leaves and glitter once again.

"What a bastard," complained Naruto, a frown marring his face. He huffed once then turned to face Sakura. "Okay, so I've got to go see the Hokage and then we can go to training field 11."

"What?" asked Sakura. "Hell no, I'm not going anywhere with you."

"So you welching on our bet then? It's not like I asked you on a date, this is training," he exclaimed, more than a little annoyed.

Sakura glowered. "Fine, but if you hit on me even once I'm kicking you ass."

"Don't worry about that, now let's go."

Sakura frowned again before following Naruto toward the Hokage's office.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV15** Next Level: **32.43%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **2346/2346

**CP: **2161/2161

**STR: **33 (20.30)

**VIT: **36 (28.60)

**DEX: **33 (20.30)

**INT: **51 (15.10)

**WIS: **33 (6.60)

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **112 (28.00)

**SPD: **10 (37.65)

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but sill mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **5

**Ryo: **12050

**Professional Skills****:**

**[Fuinjutsu (Active) Lv8 Exp 45.00% CP: 20]**

A professional skill allowing you to create seals that can be used to improve your gear, make explosives or just seal stuff away for later.

**[Kibaku Fuda Grade 1] – **A low quality explosive tag. Stats: 15-35 explosive damage, 5 meter explosive radius.

**[Storage Scroll Grade 1] – **A low quality storage scroll. Can hold up to 20 kilograms of material.

**[+15 DEF to Chest] – **Improve your gear by increasing the defense provided by 15 points.

**[+30 DEF to Chest] – **Improve your gear by increasing the defense provided by 30 points.

**[+2 DEX to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the dexterity provided by 2 points.

**[+2 WIS to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the wisdom provided by 2 points.

**[+2 STR to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the strength provided by 2 points.

**[+2 DEX to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the dexterity provided by 2 points.

**[+2 STR to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the strength provided by 2 points.

**[+2 WIS to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the wisdom provided by 2 points.

**[+10 SPD to Feet] – **Improve your gear by increasing the speed provided by 10 points.

**[+20 VIT to Legs] – **Improve your gear by increasing the vitality provide by 20 points.

**[+20 INT to Legs] – **Improve your gear by increasing the intelligence provide by 20 points.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

"Oi, old man," shouted Naruto as he entered the Hokage's office. "What the hell is with this jounin you assigned my team?"

"Oh, is there a problem, Naruto-kun," he asked, smiling a little at the refreshing atmosphere the boy created just by walking into the room.

"Where do I start? First, he was almost three hours late, then he walked into a blatantly obvious trap. Then he tells us to meet him on the roof and when we get there, what do we see but him reading porn right in front of us. If I were sensitive to that kind of thing I'd be highly offended. What happens if he does that in front of a client?"

"I see, is there anything else?"

"He's a 'Lazy Perverted Sensei', do you know what that means?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll tell me.

"-50% effectiveness to teaching, -25% experience to teaching Skills. Do you have any idea just how bad that is?"

"I'm assuming you used [Observe] on him?"

"Of course," said Naruto. "He's almost all question marks but at least it was able to give me his status buffs. Do you know he has a Sharingan and Lazy Genius status too?"

"I see, what do you think about this Kakashi-kun?" asked the old man, looking over Naruto's shoulder. He couldn't help chuckling when he saw Naruto freeze still as a statue.

Naruto mechanically moved his head to look over his shoulder to see his sensei, reading porn.

"Hmm, did Naruto say something?" he asked.

"Kakashi, you know he did," said Hiruzen, glaring a little at Kakashi.

"Naruto-kun, would mind relaying Kakashi's status in full for me?"

"You told him?"

"Of course, he's your jounin sensei, of course he needs to know about your abilities."

Naruto frowned. "What if I didn't want to tell him? Besides, he could still fail me tomorrow now couldn't he?"

"That's true I suppose," said Sarutobi, rubbing his chin. "Anyway, his full status description if you please."

"Fine," growled Naruto. He was really pissed off about the whole situation. It was not the Hokage's secret to just tell anyone he wanted to.

**Name: **Hatake Kakashi

**Title: **Jounin

**Level: **LV?** Next Level: **?

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP:** ?/?

**CP: **?/?

**STR: **?

**VIT: **?

**DEX:** ?

**INT:** ?

**WIS: **?

**LUK: ** ?

**Status: Sharingan **(+2 DEX &amp; +3 INT &amp; +1 WIS per Level),** Lazy Genius **(+5 WIS per level, -1 STR, -1 VIT, -1 DEX),** Lazy Perverted Sensei** (-50% effectiveness to teaching, -25% experience to teaching skills).

**Hatake Kakashi is a lazy pervert with zero interest in teaching yet is pursuing it because he feels obligated to both his deceased teammates and sensei. Famous for possessing a single Sharingan eye and claiming to have copied over 1000 jutsu because of it.**

"There, happy now?" asked Naruto, glaring at the old man then at Kakashi.

"Thank you very much, Naruto-kun," said the old man, his gaze shifting to Kakashi to see what he thought of it.

"Naruto-kun has quite the imagination," said Kakashi, very condescendingly.

"Hmm, an interesting opinion, unfortunately for you, I happen to think his description is rather apt. So I'm giving you one month to change. If lazy remains a part of your status at the end of the month then I can guarantee you won't like the punishment."

Kakashi, looked up from his book, seeming to study the old man. Trying to see if there was any truth in what was said. Unfortunately there was no lie in the man's words leaving zero room for doubt. As such Kakashi put his book away and sighed.

"So, Kakashi-kun, you will be on time from now on. I expect you will have trained all of your students using the following guidelines," the old man push forward a few pages of paper to the edge of his desk.

Kakashi reluctantly took the pages, fearing what would be spelled out on them. "These books?"

"You will purchase them and provide them to your students, you'll be reimbursed of course, just as all of the other jounin are required to do the same. You will help them find a suitable taijutsu style, you will assist them with the basics of chakra control, and if they are capable and ready you will assist them in finding their elemental affinities. You will supervise and oversee their physical conditioning. These are your primary responsibilities as a jounin instructor. This is not negotiable, you will meet the standards as will your students."

"Am I still allowed to test them tomorrow?"

"By all means, test them," said Sarutobi. "Make them earn their places as genin but should they pass I expect you to adhere to the guild lines that you have no doubt received every time you've been assigned a team you've not passed."

"Well, I've never passed a team before, I don't see me starting now."

"Just you wait, we'll pass," said Naruto, putting in his own opinion.

"Hmm, I just don't see it," said Kakashi, putting away the pages from the Hokage and vanishing a in a swirl of leaves and glitter.

"Glitter, Naruto?" asked the old man, trying not to grin.

"It worked," said Naruto.

"Alright, you can go," said Sarutobi.

"Great, training field here I come."

"Just be careful."

"I will be, I'm just running Sakura-chan through the lowest level one. Trying to show her some things. Hey, do you know a cure for 'Fangirl'?"

"That is a dangerous thing to even try to cure," said Sarutobi, suddenly looking a bit pale.

"How dangerous are we talking here?"

"It would involve introducing her to several kunoichi that would break her, break her in a way that she may never recover from. The alternative is to let her grow out of it," said Sarutobi.

"Ah, well, she may not live long enough to grow out of it," said Naruto seriously.

"I'll talk to some people, if you pass your test tomorrow, I'll arrange for her to meet some people."

"Thanks, jiji."

"Get out of here, brat."

Naruto grinned and left with a wave.

"What took you so long?" demanded Sakura.

Naruto rolled his eyes but answered anyway. "Kakashi-sensei showed up and jiji read him the riot act. You ready to go?"

Sakura frowned. "This isn't a date right? You're not trying to trick me and surprise me with some kind of romantic picnic are you?"

"While that's not a bad idea, this is not a training field to do that in, in fact, bringing food to this field could make things much worse."

"Alright, let's go already and get this over with, I have plans tonight," she said gruffly.

"Okay, let's go," said Naruto, leading her to the training field.

As soon as they arrived Naruto pulled a handful of weapons and sprayed them across the field behind Sakura, causing her to jump in surprise and charge to hit Naruto.

Naruto ducked under Sakura's swing and sliced a rat in half that had jumped after her.

Sakura turned to try and strike Naruto again only to see the bisected rat falling out of the air.

"Chakra rats, arm yourself and fight," ordered Naruto. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," called Naruto forming twenty copies of himself, all armed with kunai.

Sakura blanched and pulled a pair of kunai herself when she felt something bite into the back of her ankle causing her to cry out in pain.

"Damned ankle-biters," complained Naruto, stabbing the one that bit her. "You've got to watch the ground as much as the air. The next wave is coming now."

Sakura turned to see Naruto attacking another wave of rats, including some larger rats that were half as big as she was. She was stunned to see Naruto attacking them so fiercely, him and his clones both. It was unbelievable, the boy she knew to be the dead last, an annoying pain in the ass that never stopped bugging her for dates and here he was protecting her, showing just how big the gap was between them.

"Sakura-chan, stop spacing out and start fighting or you're going to really get hurt," demanded Naruto, exploding into smoke a moment later as one of the larger rats bit into him.

It worked to snap her out of her funk as she began helping Naruto to kill rat after rat. They must have killed a hundred rats in the course of the afternoon. Sakura was definitely breathing heavy, feeling exhausted by all the fighting. When the last rat died, she dropped to her knees, gasping for air. She'd never felt so tired in her life.

"Okay, here comes the big one," said Naruto, he wasn't nearly as tired or beat up as Sakura but he still looked worse for wear.

"Big one?" she screamed in outrage. "What are you talking about?" That was when the ground began to shake.

Naruto pulled out a stack of explosive tags and held them out to Sakura. "I'm going to piss it off and keep its focus on me. While I do that, you need to put all of those tags on it. Understand?"

Sakura took the tags and nodded tiredly.

A moment later, the biggest, ugliest rat Sakura had ever seen burst out of the ground. Upon seeing it she was half tempted to lose her lunch and probably would have if she'd bothered to eat a lunch today.

Naruto charged forward, faster than anything Sakura had seen before.

"Come on you ugly bastard, I killed your food, I can sure as hell kill you too. I killed your brother the other day, just as ugly as you too but definitely smelled better," taunted Naruto, the rats eyes flashed red as it charged at Naruto in a rage.

Sakura saw her opening and ran forward, place tags on every open space she could see, as she was going around behind the thing she had to dodge several wild swings of its tail before she could get to the other side of it. With her last tag on she jumped clear. "It's clear, Naruto!"

Naruto, jumped back to create some distance, giving Sakura the time she needed.

"Katsu!" she called out priming her chakra into the tags causing them to detonate in one massive boom.

When the smoke cleared the rat looked much angrier but it was missing two legs and half its face.

"Kage Buki no jutsu," shouted Naruto throwing the two kunai he had in hand.

Sakura was mystified as the two kunai Naruto threw turned into hundreds of kunai stabbing into the rat repeatedly, finally killing the ugly bastard. She was again mystified as the rat rapidly decomposed leaving behind a stack of ryo.

"It left money?" she asked confused but also relieved.

"Must have eaten it at some point, or eaten someone that had it in his or her pocket," suggested Naruto with a shrug picking up the money and splitting it in half. "Here's your half," said Naruto holding out half the money to her.

"Thanks," said Sakura, still confused. "Do they always decompose that fast?"

"From what I've seen, the chakra mutation makes them unstable or something," explained Naruto.

"Oh," said Sakura, finally taking the money from Naruto.

"Anyway, no more will come for a while, not with that thing coming into the area. We should get you to the hospital and treated for those bites," said Naruto, motioning to the small bite marks around her ankles and down her arms.

"I am feeling a bit weak now you mention it," said Sakura.

"No worries, we'll get you treated now," said Naruto, supporting her with an arm around her and her arm around his shoulders.

As promised, Naruto took her to the hospital and she got treated with an antidote to the chakra rat poison as well as some bandages for the bites. An hour in the hospital and the pair were back out on the streets.

"So, did you have fun?" asked Naruto, grinning and completely prepared for her to clock him for even asking.

Admittedly he was surprised when she didn't hit him.

"It wasn't fun," she said softly, looking down. "It wasn't fun at all. There were so many of them and they just kept coming and you . . . you just fought and fought even when I couldn't fight anymore. You knew what to do and I was clueless . . . so clueless and those were just rats, what's it going to be like when we face shinobi? I don't know if I'm cut out for this."

There was a slapping noise ringing out into the early evening air. "Don't ever doubt yourself in front of me again," ordered Naruto. "You did your job, you covered my back like a teammate should and you got some valuable experience from it. That's why fields like that exist, so we can train and get experience beyond the missions, beyond basic training. And we're a team now, I'll help you get stronger too."

Sakura sniffled a few times. "Thanks, Naruto, maybe you're not so annoying after all."

"So does that mean you'll go on a date with me?"

"Not a chance," she said, this time hammering him in the head.

"So much for that goodwill," groaned Naruto, slowly picking himself up again.

"Serves you right," said Sakura, crossing her arms, all her worries seemed to be gone.

"Anyway, I'm going for food and then possibly to Higurashi's for some new gear. I don't see Kakashi-sensei taking it easy on us," said Naruto.

"Yeah, maybe I should get some better protection for my arms and ankles too," said Sakura.

"Yeah, he's got good stuff. I'll even put some enhancement fuin on them for you if you want me to," offered Naruto.

"Since when do you know fuinjutsu, let alone enhancement fuin?"

"It's a recent thing, but you up for it?" he asked again.

"Yeah, I suppose, but this isn't a date," she said, trying once again to make it clear she would not be going on a date with Naruto.

"Sure, sure, let's go," said Naruto, walking ahead toward Ichiraku.

Sakura shook her head, her teammate was certainly a goof but at least he was reliable. She jogged to catch up with him a moment later.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully stored.**

Naruto popped up from bed ran through his morning routine before settling down to eat breakfast. It didn't take long for him to get out the door and meet up with the rest of the team.

Naruto arrived a few minutes early but still the last to arrive. Sasuke was leaning against one of the three training posts looking bored out of his mind but not tired or sluggish. Sakura was another story, she looked a bit tired and it was clear the day before had taken it out of her. Still, her new forearm protectors and shin protectors looked pretty slick, Naruto should know, he was with her when she picked them out and he put the fuin on them to give her a bit more dexterity as per her request. Sadly, his attempts to convince her to get something better than a red dress fell on deaf ears.

So Naruto sat on top of one the posts and waited. And waited some more. Then waited even longer.

"Sakura-chan, have you got any of the glitter left?" asked Naruto.

"What's the plan?" she asked, seemingly eager to assist him.

"Seeing that he's so late, even after jiji ordered him to be on time from now on, I say we lace the field with as many traps as we can. He said we need to survive him, well now he can worry about surviving us," explained Naruto, grinning deviously. "We'll need you to help with this, teme."

Sasuke frowned then finally nodded his ascent.

"Okay, so Sasuke, you and I will lay the traps, Sakura can you map them out as we place them?"

"Capture or kill?" asked Sasuke.

"Capture mostly but you can do kill just go non-lethal with it, like using glitter," ordered Naruto, grinning a little at the mention of glitter.

Sasuke nodded and set out into the field.

Naruto went the opposite direction.

After an hour they regroup and went over the map Sakura put together from watching the both of them and given that Kakashi hadn't shown up yet meant they had time to memorize it.

Kakashi finally arrived at about an hour to noon, arriving in a swirl of leaves and completely avoiding the traps he didn't know were there.

"You're late!" yelled Naruto and Sakura.

"Mah, mah, you see I ran into this little old lady that need help with her groceries," he explained, not looking up from his porno.

"Liar!" the duo replied.

"Prove it," he challenged them.

"I'm so telling jiji you were late, I was there when he told you to be on time from now on," said Naruto.

"Ah, but he gave me permission to test you guys didn't' he? My arrival time is part of the test."

"That's why you told us not to eat," said Sakura, suddenly understanding the issue.

"Good job seeing underneath the underneath," praised Kakashi.

Sasuke and Sakura both glowered at him.

"I'm still telling jiji, he might buy your excuse but maybe he won't."

"Anyway, we're burning daylight here," said Kakashi, setting an alarm clock atop one of the training posts. "You have until noon to get a bell from me or you'll be sent back to the academy."

**Quest Alert**

**Make the team: Pass the infamous 'Bell Test'.**

**Pass Kakashi's survival test by meeting his requirements.**

**Completion Award: 20000 Exp**

**Unlock Daily Quests**

**Unlock D-Rank Missions**

**Completion Failure: 2000 Exp**

**End Shinobi Career**

Naruto blinked several times at the quest message, it was yet again one he could not decline as the button was greyed out. So he hit the accept button and mentally prepared for the worst.

"But there's only two bells," stated Sakura, looking at the two bells dangling from Kakashi's hand.

"So there are, I guess that means one of you will definitely be going back to the academy then doesn't it?"

Naruto frowned but rather than wait for a signal to start he quickly threw a handful of shuriken at Kakashi.

Kakashi didn't even blink at seeing the shuriken heading for him, they were all off target after all.

"Kage Buki no Jutsu!" shouted Naruto, flaring his chakra suddenly and in a great amount.

Kakashi's one eye widened as suddenly the handful of shuriken became hundreds of shuriken.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the obliterated log that remained along with a few of the original shuriken.

"Okay, so he likes kawarimi, we need to immobilize him before we can try hitting him," stated Naruto.

"Don't get in my way," mumble Sasuke, going in his own direction.

"Moron," complained Naruto, looking to Sakura to see her gone too. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"Well Naruto, seems you're on your own now doesn't it?" asked Kakashi, leaning against one of the posts behind Naruto.

Naruto instantly activated [Chakra Reinforcement] and [Chakra Sprint] to close on the jounin rapidly.

"Lesson one, taijutsu," said Kakashi, easily dodging Naruto's first swing, then kick, then uppercut almost effortlessly. He even pulled out his porno and started reading it while Naruto was attacking him.

Without Naruto knowing how, the man got behind him. "Sennen Goroshi," he called, his pointed fingers shooting straight for Naruto ass.

Naruto took the jab and shot into the air only to burst into glitter and confetti.

Kakashi frowned at the glitter. "Do you have any idea, how long it took me to get rid of that glitter yesterday?"

"Not as long as it will today," said Naruto, this time he was behind Kakashi, ready to deliver an enema of his own to the asshole teacher. Naruto jabbed forward only to hear the loud crunch of his finger impacting with a rather sturdy log. Naruto cursed long and loud after that but regained his bearing quickly as Kakashi was now very displeased with his potential student.

Naruto had to kawarimi himself several times with his clones just to prevent major damage to himself. Eventually Naruto was able to hide himself and collect his thoughts while Kakashi moved on to torment his other teammates.

That was the odd thing though, Naruto had met Team Gai, a three man cell with a jounin instructor, weird though he and his mini-clone may have been. It made this test seem a bit off, if Team Gai was a three man team with a jounin then why would Kakashi try to automatically eliminate at least one of them? And another thing, how was a level 15 or even a level 19 supposed to take on someone with '?' for a level? The answer is they can't as Naruto just found out.

"It's a trick," Naruto finally mumbled aloud. Naruto finally figured it out, he was trying to divide them, pit them against each other so that they'd fail. The real objective was for them to put aside their selfishness and to operate as a team.

"Now to find my team," mumbled Naruto, trying to remember where they each wandered off.

Naruto eventually found them, Sasuke was buried up to his neck in the ground and Sakura had fainted dead away just a few feet away from him.

"Stop laughing and dig me out, dobe," demanded Sasuke.

"Why should I? It's not like you're going to share the bells with me, if anything this gets you out of my way," said Naruto harshly. He had to word this carefully, he needed Sasuke to think he made the discovery of the real meaning behind the test.

"You didn't do any better than me," snapped Sasuke.

"So what? He's really powerful. He's a jounin. What did you expect? Like any one genin can beat him. Maybe you haven't noticed but he made the test to purposely fail us. No one can pass it."

"No one," mumbled Sasuke, looking thoughtful for a moment. The moment didn't last long because in the next moment he was snarling and pissed off. "That no good, dirty son of bitch. I'll kill him."

"What's got you so worked up?" asked Naruto.

"It's all a kami damned trick, that fucker did it to pit us against each other from the start," Sasuke hissed angrily. "Dig me out of here, we have to all go at him at once."

"Finally," said Naruto, grinning as he pulled a kunai to start digging his teammate loose.

"You already figured it out? Then what was with all that about me being out of your way?"

"Be honest, if I just told you would have believed me?"

"No, I wouldn't have," said Sasuke honestly. "And I probably won't in the future. You're the dobe for a reason and just because you were right this one time doesn't mean you'll ever be right again. So after we try to pass this test as a team I expect you to keep your mouth shut and stay out of my way."

Naruto had to take several deep calming breaths after that little speech from the teme. It was even more difficult to not accidentally stab him with the kunai he was using to dig him out.

"You're out, now you can wake up Sakura and explain to her what's happening 'oh great and fearless leader'," he spat sarcastically.

"Hn," he grunted, walking over to the girl and nudging her with his foot.

"Sas . . . Sasuke-kun!" she mumbled at first before springing to her feet and hugging the boy rather suddenly.

"Get off," he ordered simply.

Sakura, realizing what she was doing, quickly released Sasuke and took a step back from him, blushing furiously.

"What happened? Are you okay?" asked Sakura.

"We don't have time for this, we're going to work together to fight him."

"But why?" asked Sakura.

"Because it was all a trick, now shut up and follow my orders," said Sasuke coldly.

Naruto wanted very badly to punch Sasuke's lights out but refrained for the sake of the test.

Sasuke laid out a very simple plan that had Naruto attack from in close while Sakura pepped the man at range allowing Sasuke to sneak in and take the bells.

"Hell no, don't take this the wrong way but that plan fucking sucks, actually you can take that however you want. I have no problem with going toe to toe with Kakashi-sensei but asking Sakura to provide ranged support is epically stupid. She has neither the speed nor the strength for it where as you do plus you have katon jutsu you can use from range."

"Are you challenging my authority?" asked Sasuke.

"Fuck yes I am, you're an arrogant asshole who will take the bells only to keep them for himself if for no other reason than to try and set yourself up with just you and Kakashi getting the two of us sent back to the academy. So Sakura will take the bells, you'll provide range support and I'll keep his attention." Naruto turned and moved to attack their waiting sensei.

"Sakura, you will follow my orders," said Sasuke.

Sakura looked doubtful for a moment. She knew that Naruto's strategy was more sound but she also knew Sasuke would hate her for agreeing with Naruto. On the other hand, she couldn't help but feel Naruto may have been right about Sasuke trying to screw the both of them over. She also remembered that Naruto tried to help her the day before while Sasuke just told her not to get in his way. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. Naruto's strategy is better. He's right that I don't have the speed or strength to provide adequate ranged support."

Sasuke sneered. "You'll do as your told." He then stalked off to prepare to steal the bells as per his plan.

Sakura frowned but followed after to fulfill her roll per Sasuke's plan.

Naruto was fuming when he engaged Kakashi-sensei. From the ranged support Sakura was providing it was clear she folded to Sasuke pressuring her. So when Naruto saw Sasuke rushing onto the field, foregoing all stealth he was half tempted to adjust and block his path but passing this test was more important so he kept Kakashi's attention.

Sasuke snagged the bells and kept running out the other side of the clearing. It wasn't two minutes later that the alarm clock rang ending the test.

"Well done, you managed to get the bells," said Kakashi. "So, Sasuke-kun, who will you be giving the other bell to?"

"Neither of them deserve it. She's weak and he's stupid. They will both just slow me down as a result. They both should be sent back to the academy."

"I see," said Kakashi. "Well then, I have some good news, none of you will be sent back to the academy, I'm ordering all three of you be dropped from the shinobi program permanently.

"What?" demanded Sasuke. "I got the bells, you have to pass me."

"You only got the bells because Naruto and Sakura kept me distracted so you could steal the bells like a thief in the night. That was your plan the whole time wasn't it? I watched you plan, I saw how Naruto manipulated you into realizing the true purpose of the test then I watched as you crafted a plan to stab him and Sakura in the back all so you could have the glory. Then when Naruto called you on it you forced your plan on Sakura who was too afraid of hurting the feelings of the boy she's crushing on. The only one of you that deserves a chance is Naruto but because of his age I have no choice but to force him out. Congratulations, all of you on such a splendid display of absolute failure."

"Pass Sasuke and Sakura, drop me but pass them," said Naruto, hoping that it might save them.

"No, pass Sasuke-kun and Naruto, they did the most," protested Sakura.

"Anything to say Sasuke?" asked Kakashi, seeing the third member of the team remaining silent.

"Fail them both and pass me, it's pretty simple. I'm the last Uchiha, if you fail me, I'll go to the council and see you brought up on charges of negligence."

"Oh Sasuke, you say the silliest of things. The council doesn't give two shits about you. They tolerate you because of your Sharingan, they could care less if you're a shinobi or not so long as you repopulate your clan. They don't care if you kill Itachi, they never have and they never will. To them, you're just breeding stock right now, you haven't done anything yet to prove otherwise."

"Then damn it, pass us all. We figured out your test, we worked as a team to get the bells, that alone should be enough for you," argued Sasuke, a small chink in his armor finally exposed.

"I'll give you all one more chance to prove to me you deserve to be genin," he said, then he suddenly vanished and reappeared grabbing Naruto by the throat and slamming him into one of the training posts dazing him a bit. He then rapidly tied Naruto to the post.

Then he dropped two lunch boxes on the ground. "We'll continue after lunch, you two can eat, but don't feed Naruto, or else."

Naruto hacked and coughed a few times as he regained consciousness. "That was some bullshit," he groaned in pain.

"Just shut up," said Sasuke.

"We wouldn't even be in this situation if you hadn't been such a selfish asshole," protested Naruto.

"Stop fighting, both of you," chided Sakura. "This is all of our faults."

"How is any of this my fault?" asked Naruto.

"You antagonize Sasuke-kun every chance you get. It's no wonder he won't work with you."

Naruto frowned, it was true he did tend to antagonize Sasuke but the guy was a jerk and really brought it upon himself. "Fine, I did antagonize him."

"Hn, finally acknowledging you betters," snarked Sasuke.

"You stop that too, you're really good Sasuke-kun but you don't have to rub our faces in it all the time."

"And the little lost puppy act you pull is so much better. You're a pathetic excuse for a kunoichi."

"Shut up, you ass, she's probably the smartest person in our graduating class other than Shikamaru. She's got a ton of potential which is more than I can say for you. Yeah, you work hard and know more than the rest of us but you're also arrogant and so hyper focused on being an avenger you've missed everything else that goes on around you, it makes you a pathetic excuse for a shinobi."

"Like you're one to talk, dobe. Always shouting and playing games like a moron. You can't even perform a simple bunshin."

"I can't perform a bunshin because I have more chakra than anyone in our entire class. If you check the scores from graduation, I scored higher than you on the physical conditioning tests and just below you in weapons and taijutsu."

Sasuke's eyes widened at that.

"I was only dead last because the stupid worthless bunshin was weighted so heavily on the exam. So stop being such an arrogant prick to us."

Sasuke frowned. "Whatever." He then opened one of the lunch boxes and began to eat.

Sakura also frowned but sat to eat her own mean.

Naruto had to watch them eat as his stupid high metabolism decided to make itself known by rumbling for food just then.

"I thought you ate breakfast?" asked Sakura.

"I did, but I burn through it so fast," complained Naruto.

Then the unexpected happened. Sasuke offered up some of the food left in his lunch box. "Just take some, we won't stand a chance against him if you can't fight because you're starving."

Sakura then mimicked the action.

The sound of thunder cracking the air and lighting raining down around them froze them all in place even as Kakashi appeared in one of those lightning strikes.

"You . . . you have disobeyed me . . . for that . . . you all . . . pass," he said, and on the last word the thunder and lightning vanished as if it had never been there in the first place and Kakashi was now smirking.

"Wha . . . ?" was the eloquent response of the three genin.

**You made the team.**

**Completion Awarded: 20000 Exp, Unlocked Daily Quests, Unlocked D-Rank Missions**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV16** Next Level: **87.96%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **2446/2446

**CP: **2261/2261

**STR: **33 (20.30) = 53.30

**VIT: **36 (48.60) = 84.60

**DEX: **33 (20.30) = 53.30

**INT: **51 (15.10) = 66.10

**WIS: **33 (6.60) = 39.60

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **112 (28.00) = 140.00

**SPD: **10 (38.65) = 48.65

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **10

**Ryo: **12800

**Reputation****:**

**Konohagakure – Hated – 615/1000**

**Landlord – Unfriendly – 600/1000**

**Umino Iruka – Friendly – 600/1000**

**Mizuki (Deceased) – At War – 0/1000**

**Konoha Library – Neutral – 500/1000**

**Konoha Merchant Guild – Hated – 5/1000**

** Ichiraku Ramen – Honored – 9000/10000**

** Akimichi Bakery – Hated – 15/1000**

** Higurashi Weapons – Honored 1050/10000**

** Konoha General Store – Hated 0/1000**

** Konoha Clothiers – Hated 0/1000**

** Yakiniku Q – Hated 5/1000**

** Farm Stand – Hated 0/1000**

** Surplus Arms – Hated – 0/1000**

** Konoha Apothecary – Hated – 0/1000**

**Konoha Twelve – Neutral – 50/1000**

**Uchiha Sasuke – Unfriendly – 350/1000**

** Haruno Sakura – Unfriendly – 650/1000**

** Nara Shikamaru – Honored – 1150/10000**

** Akimichi Chouji – Honored – 50/1000**

** Yamanaka Ino – Neutral – 500/1000**

** Hyuuga Hinata – Honored – 6500/10000**

** Inuzuka Kiba – Friendly – 50/1000**

** Akamaru – Friendly – 50/1000**

** Aburame Shino – Neutral 500/1000**

** Higurashi Tenten – Neutral 750/1000**

** Rock Lee – Friendly – 500/1000**

** Hyuuga Neji – Unfriendly – 500/1000**

**Aburame Clan – Neutral – 500/1000**

**Akimichi Clan – Neutral – 50/1000**

**Inuzuka Clan – Unfriendly – 500/1000**

**Hyuuga Clan – Hated – 5/1000**

**Kurama Clan – Neutral – 500/1000**

**Nara Clan – Neutral – 200/1000**

**Sarutobi Clan – Friendly – 650/1000**

**Sarutobi Asuma – Friendly – 250/1000**

**Sarutobi Hiruzen – Friendly – 950/1000**

**Senju Clan – Neutral – 500/1000**

**Shimura Clan – Hated – 100/1000**

**Uchiha Clan – Unfriendly – 550/1000**

**Uzumaki Clan – Exalted – 1000/1000**

**Yamanaka Clan – Unfriendly – 150/1000**

**Maito Gai – Neutral – 500/1000**

**Hatake Kakashi – Exalted – 1000/1000**

**Yuuhi Kurenai – Unfriendly – 750/1000**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

A/N: So I've had a lot of question about reputations, think of them like experience and levels, you need to earn 1000 rep to move from hated to unfriendly to neutral to friendly to honored then another 10000 from honored to revered to exalted. As for Kakashi, well, you'll just have to wait and see, as one reviewer mentioned, look underneath the underneath. Kurenai always struck me as having a distaste for Naruto, maybe being a bit standoffish toward him, remember her father was killed by the Kyuubi.

A/N 2: I am hard on Sasuke, that's nothing new for me. He's not irredeemable but I'm not going to make it easy on him. His return to being something resembling human will be painfully slow and will often make you want to tear your hair out. This chapter will actually see a lot of recovery in that particular situation.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto woke up feeling pretty good. After the test the day before Naruto spent his evening working his ass off to get his bonus stat points. After that it was early to bed, he was wiped out after everything that day, talk about an emotional roller coaster.

Naruto was out the door early to go catch up with Shikamaru and Chouji. It didn't take long to find them both waiting for him outside the gate to the Nara compound.

"Morning guys," Naruto greeted them first.

"Morning," said Chouji.

"Hey," said Shikamaru.

"You both gained a level, good job," said Naruto, seeing their name and levels above their heads.

**Nara Shikamaru Lv 15**

**Akimichi Chouji Lv 14**

"Shit, I thought that might have happened," groused Shikamaru.

"Why is that a bad thing?" asked Chouji.

"Because we couldn't distribute our own stat points. Anyway, invite us to group so we can hit up a training field before we have to meet our team," said Shikamaru.

Naruto quickly formed the team.

"Which field today? We going back to 11?" asked Chouji.

"I took Sakura to training field 11 on team assignment day, she needed a bit of a wakeup call," explained Naruto.

"How did she take it?" asked Shikamaru.

"Not very well, she almost quit as a shinobi afterwards. I talked her down but who knows how it will go in the long run."

"Did you tell her about the gamer thing?" asked Chouji.

"Nope, just went there to train, no grouping necessary."

"Anyway, what time are you supposed to meet your team?" asked Shikamaru.

"10:00 AM, you?"

"9:00 AM," Shikamaru answered.

"Okay, so we have about three hours. We could probably get through field 13 in that time but it would be close and I have no idea about 12."

"Let's at least check 12 out," said Chouji. "It can't hurt and we can always turn around and leave if it gets too late."

"I'm with Chouji on this one," said Shikamaru.

"Alright, then let's get a move on before it gets to be too late.

Without another word the trio left at full speed for Training Field 12 and whatever was there waiting for them.

**Training Field 12 – **A popular place to gather mushrooms, it is frequently infested with wild boar and in turn the boar are often hunted as a popular food source for village business.

"We're never bringing Ino here," stated Shikamaru.

Naruto and Chouji both snorted a laugh.

"Let's get to work, these pigs aren't going to slaughter themselves," said Naruto, pulling a pair of kunai.

**Baby boar Lvl 10**

**HP: 750/750 CP: 400/400**

**It's a cute little baby boar . . . that will gore and eat you if you let it. Watch out for their charge and if you hear them squeal you'd better run because mama boar is never too far away.**

"Troublesome," complained Shikamaru naturally. "Okay, so we can't let them squeal or things will get way worse for us."

"So we need to kill them fast?" asked Chouji.

"Obviously" stated Naruto, vanishing a moment later only to reappear on top of a now dead pig with two kunai stuck into the back of its neck.

"At least they die quickly," said Chouji, pulling a pair of kunai for himself.

"Want to see what a mama boar is?" asked Naruto, grinning at his friends.

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru. "Fine, let's see one."

Naruto threw a shuriken at one of the baby boar's hitting its side and drawing attention and its anger.

The baby boar snorted a few times, pawing the ground as it prepared to charge.

Naruto beaconed to it with one hand.

As if by an unspoken agreement the two charged at each other.

Naruto jumped over top of it, not wanting to risk getting gored by one of the tusks if he tried to roll pasts its side. As Naruto flew over it, he peppered it with shuriken, not really hurting it but definitely irritating it.

"Any more damage and it will die," commented Shikamaru, sitting back lazily and just watching.

Chouji meanwhile was looking around the base of one of the trees, occasionally bending over and picking something.

Finally the little baby boar started to squeal quite loudly. A loud thundering noise followed and a much larger boar emerged from the brush.

**Mamma Boar Lvl 15**

**HP: 1500/1500 CP: 500/500**

**You made momma mad and now you're in big trouble. Like her child, her charge is quite dangerous but don't ignore her stomp either.**

"Right, Chouji, you keep her attention, Naruto and I will work to kill her," ordered Shikamaru, drawing Chouji's attention away from the tree he was messing with.

"Okay," said Chouji, immediately throwing a hand full of shuriken at her.

The boar charged at Chouji instantly.

Chouji raised his arms above his head and clasped them together when they suddenly grew to enormous size. He then hammered both fists downward into the boars head slamming it into the ground.

When the boar stood again it was very dizzy and confused, walking wobbly from side to side.

Chouji then grabbed one of her tusks in each hand and shoved her into the ground. "I've got her held down, get her now!"

Naruto and Shikamaru then proceed to inflict as much damage as they were able to. Stabbing the beast over and over again. It was down almost half of its HP before it shook Chouji off.

"Do it again," ordered Shikamaru, hoping it would work twice.

Chouji once again hammer it in the head but it didn't daze it at all and barely dropped it any HP. Instead it stomped on the ground hard shaking everything around it causing Chouji to lose his footing and fall to the ground.

Naruto seeing the boar was about to gore his friend acted fast. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He spawned dozens of clones which all immediately began to dogpile the boar, to give Chouji some time to get his feet back and put some space.

The boar shook and swung its tusks hard dispelling most of the clones, those that didn't proceeded to stab the pig repeatedly.

Chouji was able to scramble away from the boar and regain his footing.

"Nikudan Sensha, now," ordered Shikamaru.

Chouji nodded and did as he was told, plowing over the pig, destroying Naruto's clones but doing far more damage to the beast.

Naruto seeing its HP flashing red leapt onto its back and drove two kunai into the back of its neck finishing it off.

When it decomposed there was a leg remaining.

**Ham Shank – **Delicious Konoha Wild Boar Ham Shank. Cooking Ingredient

"It's a ham shank, for cooking," said Naruto, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Ham Shank?" asked Chouji, drooling excessively as he stared at it.

"You can have it," said Naruto. "We'll get more, that mama pig was worth a lot of experience so I want to spawn as many of her as we can."

"Yatta!" shouted Chouji, running forward to grab the ham shank.

So for the next hour that's what they did, spawn Mamma Boars and kill them. He and Chouji both ended up with ten each.

And that's when the boss showed up.

**Papa Boar Lv 18**

**HP: 2200/2200 CP: 1000/1000**

**You made papa angry, you won't like papa when he's angry. Watch out for his breath, it's a bit fiery.**

The boar snorted causing a few small jets of flame to shoot from its nose.

"This is not going to end well for us," said Shikamaru, his shadow stretching immediately and grabbing hold of the boar.

"[Kage Buki no Jutsu]," shouted Naruto, letting his teammates know to stay clear as the boar was pelted with hundreds of kunai, most not even penetrating the things thick hide.

"That didn't work so good," said Naruto, seeing its HP barely drop.

"Use explosive notes," ordered Shikamaru, struggling to hold the beast.

Naruto ran in and started laying notes all over the thing, finally jumping back and activating them. "Katsu!"

The boar's health dropped a good chunk but not nearly enough. Its hide was still way too thick to do any significant damage.

"Any ideas?" asked Chouji.

"Keep it busy, I'm thinking," said Shikamaru, his hold on it finally undone.

Naruto and Chouji took turns taunting it back and forth and peppering it with a little damage here and there but it was still over half health.

Shikamaru spent the time studying the beast, it was big and its hide was thick. They just weren't able to do enough damage, that's when Shikamaru saw its underside was untouched, looked very soft, very tender, and most importantly vulnerable.

"Guy, you need to attack its stomach. That's where it's vulnerable.

Naruto ducked under a jet of flame from the boar and tried to slash at it but did almost no damage. "And how do we do that?"

"Naruto, attack the two legs on its right side. Chouji, once Naruto weakens those legs you need to charge and hit its left side with as much power as you can muster to try and roll it, once we do that, attack that belly like your lives depend on it because they just might.

"You got it," said Naruto and Chouji at once.

Naruto spawned a handful of clones and had them help him in assaulting the legs, managing to make them bleed and the boar's body on that side to sag.

"Now, Chouji," ordered Shikamaru.

Chouji charged in, his right leg swinging backwards as he got near. His right leg swung forward and just before it hit it grew to a size comparable with the boar itself.

After the impact of the giant foot, the boar rocked then fell to its side just as Shikamaru planned.

Shikamaru's shadow instantly latched on to it. "Kill it fast while I've still got chakra to hold it."

Naruto and Chouji immediately attacked without mercy. Naruto and his clones stabbing and slicing while Chouji would hit it with Nikudan Sensha grinding into it until finally the beast huff one last gout of flame before going still.

The trio all breathed a giant sigh of relief when it finally started to decompose.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

**Your teammate Akimichi Chouji's level has increased by 1.**

"And a level, you too Chouji."

**Ryo 2250**

**High Grade Thick Leather (2) – **Leather commonly used in Shinobi clothing. Crafting Material.

**[Katon: Hidama no Jutsu] Skill Scroll**

"Woo hoo," shouted Naruto, excitedly. "A skill scroll."

"Really, that's kind of cool," said Chouji. "What skill?"

"[Katon: Hidama no Jutsu]," Naruto answered.

"Okay, so how do we split up the loot?" asked Shikamaru.

"That . . . is a good question," said Naruto. "I mean, obviously we all get an equal share of the money so that's 750 Ryo each. And me and Chouji both got the ham earlier so I think you should take your pick."

"Hmm, I didn't expect you to be so reasonable," said Shikamaru, frowning. "You should take the skill scroll, see if you can learn it first."

Naruto nodded.

**You have obtained the skill scroll [Katon: Hidama no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the 'Confirm (Y).

**You cannot learn this skill.**

**Required: [Katon Affinity]**

"Well that sucks, what the hell?" demand Naruto. "It says I need to have a [Katon Affinity]."

"Hmm, I wonder . . ." mumbled Shikamaru. "Can I try?"

Naruto shrugged and handed him the book. "Sure.

Shikamaru blinked in surprise when he was prompted to learn the skill. He was more surprised when the book went up in flames and smoke.

"You have a [Katon Affinity]?" asked Naruto.

"Apparently, I didn't even know I had one," said Shikamaru.

"Open your skills list," said Naruto, curious as to what his friend's skills were listed at.

"It says I do have a Katon Affinity but it's only level 1 with zero experience."

"If you just created it then how come I wasn't able to?" questioned Naruto.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru complained, sighing aloud. "I think we need to do some more research into chakra affinities."

"I have the books for it at home, I haven't really been able to read into them too much yet," added Naruto.

"It will have to wait," said Shikamaru, checking the time. "We've got to hit the road and meet our sensei and Ino."

"Okay guys, I guess Chouji and I can each take one of the skins," said Naruto, collecting the leather and handing one to Chouji.

"Oh, before I forget," said Chouji. "I found a bunch of mushrooms earlier. They are a really good cooking ingredient." He then held them out to his friends.

"Cool," said Naruto. "But you keep those, I'll try to collect some myself since I still have time before meeting my team."

"Alright, see you later, Naruto," said Chouji, obviously happy with his recent food pickups.

**Your team has disbanded.**

Naruto was then left to his own devices in that field. "So, mushroom hunting, huh?"

Naruto went toward the tree he saw Chouji at earlier, he could see around the base were several broken stems from where they had been plucked. Naruto moved on to check another tree where he saw a bunch of mushrooms.

**Shiitake Mushroom – **This mushrooms has a soft, spongy quality, producing a woodsy, meaty flavor and texture when cooked. Cooking Ingredient.

**Enoki Mushroom – **This mushroom has a mild, delicate flavor that is complimented by a slight crunch. Cooking Ingredient

Naruto picked the mushrooms, moving to several different trees as he went. He ended up with sixteen shiitake and seven enoki. He didn't have any recipes for them but a quick trip to the library should help him out, same with the ham shank.

Naruto didn't stay very long as he was due to meet his team for training and a mission. Naruto arrived a few minutes early to the meeting though once again he was the last to arrive other than Kakashi.

Sasuke looked very displeased to see Naruto arrive, acknowledging his arrival with little more than a glare.

Sakura looked between them nervously, expecting a fight to break out, especially with the way things were left unsettled at the test.

Thankfully, Kakashi arrived before they could come to blows.

"So, first today we're going to go over some things. Starting with the obvious. Sasuke, we need to discuss your unwillingness to be teamed with anyone. Would you care to explain yourself?"

"They will just slow me down," stated Sasuke.

"Hmm, tell me more," said Kakashi, staring Sasuke down a bit.

After a short stare down between Kakashi and Sasuke, the youth finally answered. "I won't be responsible for their safety. They'll get themselves killed and put me at risk because of it."

"I see so you're worried they will get themselves killed," translated Kakashi.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, refusing to acknowledge Kakashi's words.

"I'll take that as a 'Yes, you're absolutely right, Kakashi-sensei. You're such a genius, please teach me to be just like you." Kakashi retorted before looking to Sakura and Naruto. "What do you think about that Sakura?"

Sakura looked embarrassed. "He's not wrong but he's not completely right. I'm not very strong but I won't get in his way."

"Sasuke, what do you think?" asked Kakashi.

"She's weak, she even said so. I don't want to watch someone die again," he stated angrily.

"Ah, now we get to the real root of the issue. Care to elaborate further, Sasuke?"

Sasuke snarled at the man. "Go to hell, I don't have to explain anything."

"True, you don't have to but you should. Anyway, Sakura, what are you going to do about Sasuke's issue?"

"Get stronger, so strong I can protect him."

"Good answer, Sasuke, anything to say about that?"

"Do what you want," he said, not daring to look at her.

"Good enough for now," said Kakashi. "Now for you, Naruto. What do you think?"

"He needs to apologize for his bullshit," said Naruto, clearly leaving no room for less.

"You can go to hell too," said Sasuke rudely.

"Hmm," mumbled Kakashi thoughtfully. "Sasuke, as much as you may not wish to acknowledge it you were in the wrong yesterday. You do owe your teammates an apology, a sincere one. Naruto is significantly stronger than you seem to think he is so I'll make a deal with you. You will spar with him, when it's done you will decide if you should apologize to him or not."

"Any rules?" asked Sasuke, smirking slightly now.

"No killing blows, otherwise go for it and have fun."

Naruto was very tempted to protest having the fight at all but the opportunity to fight Sasuke again and not just in a taijutsu spar where the asshole tended to dominate was just too good to pass up. "Fine, I'll kick his ass."

**Quest Alert**

**Make peace by fighting it out: Beat Sasuke in a spar and settle your differences.**

**Fight Sasuke to knock-out.**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp**

**Sasuke's Apology.**

**Increase reputation with Uchiha Sasuke.**

**Completion Failure: 1000 Exp**

**Decrease reputation with Uchiha Sasuke.**

"Hn, you wish, dobe."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched slightly at the insult. He was really starting to dislike being called 'dobe'. Naruto used [Observe] again on Sasuke, he hadn't checked the assholes stats in a few days.

**Name: **Uchiha Sasuke

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV19** Next Level: **24.65%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **700/700

**CP: **740/740

**STR: **45

**VIT: **70

**DEX: **89

**INT: **74

**WIS: **46

**LUK: **1

**Status: Unawakened Sharingan **(+2 DEX &amp; +3 INT &amp; +1 WIS per Level),** Avenger **(+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi),** Firebug **(-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10 damage to katon jutsu)

**Uchiha Sasuke is the last loyal surviving member of the infamous Uchiha clan. Well known for their doujutsu the Sharingan which has allowed them to excel as shinobi in the field. His past is clouded by the pain and misery of losing his family so much that vengeance is all that remains to him.**

Nothing had really changed which was to Naruto's benefit. His best hope for beating Sasuke was once again to outlast him. Naruto could take more damage, the trick would be to push enough damage back on him to win the fight and avoid taking any major damage like getting lit up by a giant fireball.

A giant fireball like the one that was currently heading right for him. Naruto's eyes widened for a moment before he shot off in a blur of motion, easily avoiding the fireball. Somehow, Naruto missed Kakashi call for a start to the fight.

Naruto rushed around behind Sasuke, punching him sharply in the kidney's causing the boy to wince but still counter with a spinning kick into Naruto's ribs causing him to back away. Naruto smirked when he saw their HP dropped by almost the same amount. Still, in overall percentage loss, Sasuke suffered more damage.

Next was a flurry of kicks and punches being exchanged in which Sasuke managed to come out mostly on top. Even still, Naruto wasn't deterred.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," shouted Naruto, spawning dozens of clones. Now, Naruto knew with his gamer ability he didn't have to yell the name of the technique but this was a point of pride. An A-rank kinjutsu. He'd be damned if he didn't use it and make sure that ass heard what it was.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly when he ignored the first clone thinking it was an illusion only to get punched in the face by it sending him rolling across the field. As he finally got his feet back under him sent a flurry of shuriken into the horde of clones, killing a few but mostly being ineffective. It did however give him time to fire off a giant fireball into them obliterating most of them.

Naruto smirked even as his clones were obliterated by the flames of destruction.

Sasuke mimicked the smirk thinking he'd had the fight in the bag now. Until he felt someone latch onto his arms and legs, lifting him up and slamming him bodily into the ground, forcing the air from his lungs painfully. He barely managed to register Naruto dropping bodily toward him from the air above him.

Naruto's knees impacted Sasuke's stomach with a solid 'thwap' sound. Naruto then drove a hard punch into Sasuke's face knocking him out.

"Winner, Naruto," said Kakashi. "Good fight, smart strategy, well done."

Naruto couldn't help grinning at the praise from his teacher.

"Feel better after getting that out of your system, eh?" asked Kakashi.

"Yes, yes I do," said Naruto, standing off of Sasuke. He dispelled his clones and brushed the dirt off. "Now, as soon as he apologizes I'll be ready to work."

Kakashi chuckled and shook his head. "So long as you can move forward." Kakashi then turned to Sakura. "Why don't you try and patch him up? I doubt he'll be feeling overly generous toward me and Naruto right now."

Sakura nodded and ran forward.

"Walk with me, Naruto," said Kakashi, motioning for the boy to follow him.

"Okay, so what do you need?" asked Naruto, joining Kakashi a ways away from Sasuke and Sakura.

"Would you mind telling me what you can [Observe] from Sasuke and Sakura, yourself as well, just the Status effects for now? The more I know the better I'll be able to assist you in training. Sasuke's path is pretty well set as an assault fighter or in your gaming terms, 'dps'."

Naruto studied Kakashi for a minute before nodding his accent.

**Naruto Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill**), Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Sasuke Status: Sharingan** (+2 DEX &amp; +3 INT &amp; +1 WIS per Level), **Avenger** (+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi), **Firebug **(-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10 damage to katon jutsu)

**Sakura Status: Perfect Control **(+15 WIS per level, -50% cost to all jutsu), **Fangirl** (-25% decrease to experience gain, -50% decrease to bonus stat gain), **Book Smart **(+10 INT per level, -75% CP, +25% increase to skill experience)

"Hmm," hummed Kakashi in thought.

"What are you thinking for Sakura?" asked Naruto, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Either genjutsu or iryojutsu, with her limited chakra pool and perfect control there isn't much else I can do for her, especially not with that 'Fangirl' status affecting her."

"Cool, so a healer or support role," said Naruto, appreciating it.

Kakashi paused as he realized Naruto was still there. "Ah, if you could keep that to yourself for now I'd appreciate it."

Naruto considered it for a minute before answering. "Okay, I'll keep it quiet but what do you see for me? I mean, with my Jinchuuriki status my chakra pool and hit points are stupid high so I could be a 'Shield' type or 'dps' depending on how I spend my points. I just don't know which way to go."

"Let me think about your situation for a while. Your gamer ability makes things much more complicated allowing you to pursue multiple paths," explained Kakashi. "For now, let's get back to your teammates. Sasuke should be awake by now."

Naruto nodded and followed Kakashi back.

When they arrived, Sasuke looked even unhappier than before the fight.

"Now then Sasuke, still think Naruto will hold you back?" asked Kakashi.

Sasuke sneered. "Fine, he won't hold me back, happy now."

"Are you ready to apologize to your teammates?" asked Kakashi.

Sasuke mumbled something none of the heard very well.

"I'm sorry, didn't quite catch that," said Kakashi, encouraging Sasuke to speak up.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. "I'm sorry I underestimated you."

"Try again," said Kakashi, it was not the apology he expected.

Sasuke growled, more than a little unhappy. "I'm sorry for treating you so poorly."

"Still not what I'm looking for," ordered Kakashi. "Sasuke, think about what your brother did to you then think about what you did to your teammates yesterday. Then try again."

Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment before they were flooded with rage. "I'm nothing like him! Don't ever compare me to him again!"

"Are you so different, Sasuke?" demanded Kakashi, his voice no longer friendly. "What did he do? What did you do?"

"He betrayed me, my whole family. He murdered them all and for what? To test himself, that's what. To prove he was better than all of them, better than everyone in the village," screamed Sasuke.

"And what did you do yesterday? What were your actions?" demanded Kakashi. "You betrayed your team, people you need to be able to trust and people who need to be able to trust you. If that had been a mission and I was an enemy shinobi, you as good as murdered them by putting the mission over your comrades."

"That's what we're taught in the academy," Sasuke tried to defend his actions, his eyes wide and slightly panicked.

"Let me tell you something I was taught years ago, those who abandon the mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash. What your brother did made him lower than trash. What you did yesterday, made you lower than trash. Right now I don't see any difference between you and your brother. It's up to you to change and you can start by apologizing to your teammates the right way." Kakashi started his speech rather angry but by the end bite in his tone faded.

Sasuke suddenly seemed a bit defeated. He wasn't used to losing and despite having just lost a fight to Naruto of all people it was the argument with Kakashi that impacted harder. It didn't sit well with him. Had he really become like his brother? Wasn't everything he'd done to make sure someone like his brother never happened again? How had he lost sight of that? Was Kakashi right?

"Well?" asked Kakashi, snapping the young man out of his reverie.

"I'm sorry," said Sasuke softly. "I betrayed your trust and refused to cooperate with you as a teammate should have. If this had been a real mission my selfishness would have gotten you both killed. For that I am sorry. It won't happen again. But don't either of you dare slow me down or fall behind. I will not be responsible for your deaths."

"Apology accepted," said Naruto, no hint of sarcasm or joke involved. "But the same goes for you, don't slow me down or fall behind. I won't always be there to save your ass."

Sasuke smirked a little. "Deal."

"Boys," complained Sakura.

"Okay, now that we've settled that issue, let's get to work. We have a wonderful D-Rank mission to get to.

**Your fists did the talking.**

**Completion Awarded: 5000 Exp, Sasuke's Apology, +100 to reputation with Sasuke Uchiha.**

Kakashi led the trio to the Hokage tower where he collected a mission scroll leaving his team to wait outside the office.

**Quest Alert**

**D-Rank Mission: Beat them weeds.**

**Pull all weeds in the Koyabano's garden in less than two hours.**

**Completion Award: 1000 Exp**

**1500 Ryo**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Completion Failure: 100 Exp**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

When Kakashi came back out waving a mission scroll detailing exactly the same request as the mission Naruto hung his head in disappointment. A chore, D-rank missions were just chores lazy people didn't feel like doing. Naruto wanted to scream in protest and annoyance but he had no choice in the matter. Plus it was basically free experience and money.

"Okay team, let's go," said Kakashi with false bravado, trying to encourage his team at least a little bit.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV17** Next Level: **98.01%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **2557/2557

**CP: **2372/2372

**STR: **34 (20.40) = 54.40

**VIT: **37 (48.70) = 87.70

**DEX: **34 (20.40) = 54.40

**INT: **52 (15.20) = 67.20

**WIS: **34 (6.80) = 40.80

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **112 (28.00) = 140.00

**SPD: **10 (39.20) = 49.20

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster** (-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **15

**Ryo: **13550

**[Chakra Reinforcement (Active) Lv39 91.23% CP: 100]**

Using chakra to reinforce your body can now protect you from taking some damage.

Additional 490 HP damage reduction when active.

Reinforcement lasts until 490 damage has been inflicted on you.

**[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Active) Lv8 Exp: 12.23% CP: ½ total CP]**

Kage Bunshin are corporeal copies capable of everything you are include fighting, using jutsu and learning new things. The first kage bunshin will reduce your CP by ½ and each additional kage bunshin's thereafter will reduce the kage bunshin's CP by ½. For example, if you have CP: 2000, one kage bunshin will have CP: 1000, but one hundred Kage Bunshin will have CP: 10. Kage bunshin will dispel with one solid hit or when they run out of chakra, if they die by being hit, the unused CP will return to your CP pool**.**

**[Physical Endurance (Passive) LvMax]**

The body's durability increases, allowing for less damage taken.

Passively increases DEF 25%


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

Naruto was not pleased with his first D-Rank mission. Honestly he thought it was some straight up bullshit. It was even more obnoxious with the nasty old woman glaring at him the entire time he was doing the work. He tried to speed up the mission by using clones but Kakashi quickly put an end to that notion.

"Looks good team, well done," said Kakashi, surveying the final results of their labor.

"I suppose this will due," said the old woman, the widow Koyabano. She couldn't help but give Naruto one last dirty look before signing Kakashi's form and going back inside her home.

"What a bitch!" exclaimed Naruto, his irritation showing clearly on his face.

"Mah, mah, Naruto, no need to speak so poorly of our clients," chided Kakashi.

"She wasn't glaring at you for the entirety of the mission," retorted Naruto, his displeasure still clear.

"Anyway, let's get a move on. We need to turn in the mission then it's time for a bit of team training." Kakashi lead them to the tower and turned in the mission.

**Mission Accomplished – D-Rank.**

**Completion Awarded: 1000 Exp, 1500 Ryo, +5 to reputation with Konoha.**

**Your level has increased by 1.**

Kakashi then led them back to the training field.

"So, these books are for you to study in your own time, I fully expect you to learn them front to back inside of a month," Kakashi explained as he handed each of them a book. He gave Naruto a look warning him not to burn the book in front of his teammates.

**You've obtained skill book [Genin Team Tactics].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the 'Decline (N)' button. He could learn the book once he got home.

"For now, we are going to start with some chakra control exercises," ordered Kakashi. "I'm going to teach you to climb trees."

"But we already know how to climb trees," protested Naruto.

"Not without using your hands," said Kakashi. He then started to walk up a tree in the clearing.

"Cool!" shouted Naruto in excitement.

"So, the idea is to channel chakra to your feet and use it to stick to the tree so you can walk up it."

"How does this help chakra control?" asked Sakura.

"Channeling chakra to your feet is one of the hard places in the human body to do so. Controlling exactly how much you use will make controlling it for jutsu easier so you don't waste as much," explained Kakashi. "This isn't something that once you learn it will make you a master of it. The more you practice it the better your control will get. So, everyone pick a tree and get to work." As he finished he threw a kunai down in front of each of them.

Naruto picked his up and sprinted to the closest tree. He put a foot against it, channeled a little chakra, took one step up and fell on his head.

"You might want to give it a bit of a running start at first," recommended Kakashi.

Naruto frowned at his sensei. "You couldn't have said that before I started?"

"But you seemed so eager to get started," protested Kakashi, trying to look completely innocent and failing miserably since he was actively reading his porno not really paying much attention to his team.

Naruto closed his eyes and breathed in and out trying to clear his head. Naruto rolled backwards from the tree and up to his feet. He focused chakra to his feet again and took a step only to pull up a large chunk of dirt and trip him up when he took a step forward.

"Too much chakra," said Kakashi, still not really paying too much attention.

Naruto glared at the man, trying to shake the dirt off his foot. So Naruto tried again but with a bit less chakra. This time he made it five steps up the tree before losing his grip.

"Better, try to keep the chakra flow even. Too much and you'll break the bark causing you to lose your grip. Too little and you'll slip right off," explained Kakashi, seeing Sasuke have the same problem.

"This is easy," said Sakura from the top branch.

"Well, looks like you have good control. You should look into learning some genjutsu or iryojutsu," suggested Kakashi. "But for now, keep working on it you need to improve your stamina. Your control is only so good because you have so little chakra to control."

Sakura nodded and started running up and down the tree. After about ten times she had to rest.

Naruto went back to grinding at it. Eventually he'd get the hang of it and he'd be racing up and down the tree like it was second nature. For now, he'd take just getting a step further than his previous attempts as progress.

After about two hours of working at it, Kakashi called the team's day over and released them to do as they pleased. Naruto chose to stay and work on tree climbing. Sakura went home to rest. Sasuke also left but didn't say where or why he was going, he just left.

It must have been close to midnight when Naruto finally got it down.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**By using your chakra to take hold of surfaces, a skill to improve chakra control 'Tree Climbing' Lvl 1 has been created.**

**[Tree Climbing (Passive) Lv1 0.00% 10 CP per 5 seconds]**

By using your chakra to stick to surfaces you can now move more freely and better use your chakra.

Passively increases WIS 1%

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 1%

"That's some bull shit, all of that and it barely does shit for my control. What the fuck you stupid ass game?" complained Naruto very loudly.

Naruto was annoyed and now very tired. He'd worked all day to learn this crap and for all that effort this was all he got. "That's it, I'm going home to bed."

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto woke up feeling refreshed from the night before if still a little annoyed by the results of the chakra control exercise. Even if it was a badass ability it still sucked that it did so very little for him. Naruto sat up and opened his inventory and pulled out the [Genin Team Tactics] skill book.

**You've obtained skill book [Genin Team Tactics].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto hit the 'Confirm (Y)' button.

**You cannot learn skill.**

**Requires: WIS 40**

Naruto groaned in irritation. He quickly calculated that he could gain two more bonus stat points through playing shogi with Shikamaru which meant he needed to put in four points into WIS to be able to learn it after he gain the bonus stat points. Naruto put the book away and added the points.

Then he sighed. "Time to get under way."

Naruto went through his morning routine then headed out the door.

Naruto met up with Shikamaru and Chouji once again but this time they focused on training for bonus stat points in the little time they had. Thankfully, Shikamaru was more than willing to put the time in playing shogi. He earned his points having played the longest games yet against Shikamaru. Sadly he didn't have enough time to work on any other points but he was happy all the same.

As soon as he got his two points he pull out the skill book again.

**You've obtained skill book [Genin Team Tactics].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto hit the button.

**You've obtained the skill 'Genin Team Tactics'.**

**[Genin Team Tactics (Passive) Lv30 0.00%]**

Team formations, ambush points, counter ambush and many other tactics.

Passively increases INT 12.5%

Passively increases WIS 12.5%

Naruto met up with his team at the Hokage tower, got another D-Rank mission. This time walking some of the Inuzuka dogs. This was followed by more running up and down trees. Sasuke was still struggling with it. Sakura was worn out by the time she finished about ten laps. Naruto was just getting skill experience.

However the three levels he gained to his [Tree Climbing] was worth all the effort. For every level he gained it increased the passive benefits by 1% each.

After the team broke up, Naruto headed back to the academy training field where he ran into Shikamaru and Chouji both hard at work which Naruto was only too happy to join in on.

"Well, according to my stats I've hit my cap, you guys?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, a while ago," said Shikamaru.

"Me too," said Chouji.

"So now what? It's a bit late to try a training field."

"You got those books on affinities still?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yeah, they are back at my place though." Naruto answered, unsure if his friends would want to come to his place.

"Alright, let's go," said Shikamaru.

"We should get some food on the way there," suggested Chouji.

"Hell yeah, Ichiraku Ramen here we come," cheered Naruto, smiling from ear to ear.

The trio were soon happily sitting in Naruto's rundown apartment eating noodles.

"No offense, Naruto, but your place is kind of a shithole," said Shikamaru.

"Stupid landlord won't fix anything. Its cause of the damned Kyuubi," explained Naruto. "But my reputation with him has been improving. When the gamer thing first started he hated me now he's just unfriendly. A few more months and he should hit neutral then maybe I can get the ass to fix some shit around here."

"What do the reputations do for you anyway?" asked Chouji.

"I'm not completely sure. But like at Higurashi, I started at neutral but when I hit friendly the old man gave me a discount on his goods, and a bigger discount when I got to honored."

"Hmm, what does it say about me and Chouji?" asked Shikamaru.

"Let me check, I don't really pay much attention to it. I just know I get a lot rep from some of the stupid ass quests, not that it ever seems to do me much good. So let's see, reputation." Naruto opened the menu audibly so the guys could maybe see or if not just know that he'd opened it.

"It says you're both Honored with me. Shikamaru is 1200 out of 10000 and Chouji is 150 out of 10000."

"What about the other rookies?"

"Sakura and Sasuke are both unfriendly with me but they've been getting better because we're on a team and stuff. Hinata is honored 6500 out of 10000, no idea why that's so high and every time I try to talk to her she passes out or runs away. Kiba and Akamaru are both friendly with me. Ino and Shino are both neutral."

"Hmm, interesting," said Shikamaru.

"You have any idea why it's important?"

"It could have to do with the 'team' system or something to do with training maybe. I'm not really sure," said Shikamaru. "Time will tell. Anyway, let's see those books."

Naruto closed the window and went over to his small bookshelf and grabbed three books he'd gotten from the library, setting them on the table.

"Take your pick," said Naruto grabbing the top book titled simply 'The Elements'.

Shikamaru took the next 'Affinities and You' while Chouji reluctantly took the last book, 'Bakas guide to Chakra Affinities'.

"Naruto, trade me," said Chouji.

Naruto shrugged and swapped. He thought the 'Bakas' was actually the easiest of them to read.

_Earth-Water-Fire-Wind-Lighting-Earth-Water-Fire-Wind-Lighting. Repeat that aloud at least a hundred times. When it comes to the basics of the elements that simple pattern establishes most of the ground rules._

_Now, I'm sure you're asking, 'why does that establish most of the ground rules?' The answer is simple, when it comes to affinities there is always a strength and a weakness. Earth is strong against water but weak against lightning. Now, can you tell me about the rest of them?_

__ is strong against _ but weak against water._

__ is strong against _ but weak against earth._

__ is strong against _ but weak against fire._

__ is strong against _ but weak against wind._

Naruto frowned. "Is it really this simple?"

"What?" asked Shikamaru, looking up from his book.

"Huh, oh sorry, I was talking to myself."

"So, what's so simple?"

"Well, the elements, they all have a weakness and strength. This book spells it out very directly right at the start. Like fire is strong against wind but weak against water."

"Isn't that common sense?" asked Chouji.

"I guess that is but what about earth being weak against lightning, did you know that?"

"I guess not," said Chouji.

"Does it saying anything about not being able to learn a certain element?" asked Shikamaru.

"I haven't gotten that far yet," said Naruto, scratching the back of his head slightly embarrassed.

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru, closing his book and setting it aside. "Come share that book, it's got to be far less complicated than the mess that moron was trying to spell out. I should have known better than to read a book written by an Uchiha."

"That was written by an Uchiha?" asked Chouji, setting his book on top of Shikamaru's. "This one was too, he started out with all kinds of chakra equations and formulas."

"Yeah, let's just share the 'Bakas' book," reiterated Naruto.

_Now, most people only have one primary affinity but that won't stop you from learning all of the affinities, but if you choose to go that route then prepare to work your ass off and probably never master any of the affinities._

_There is a reason most shinobi never learn more than one or two affinities, a primary and a secondary. We'll talk more on secondary affinities later, for now let's focus on primary affinities._

_Your primary affinity is that which you most readily align with. This doesn't mean you will instantaneously be the strongest of ninjutsu user just for knowing your affinity and knowing a few jutsu using that affinity._

_Also, don't think that just because you were born in Hi no Kuni that you will instantly have a fire affinity or that if you come from Kaze no Kuni you will creating tornados for the fun of it. Where you're born doesn't mean a thing when it comes to your affinity. That said, there is an ounce of truth to the statement, Hi no Kuni has more fire affinities than not just as Kaze no Kuni has more wind affinities than not. _

_Now, to find out your affinity you will need a sheet of chakra affinity paper, purchasable at most shinobi outfitters. Once you've procured the necessary papers you'll need to simply channel a little chakra into it and see what happens._

_If you have an earth affinity the paper will crumble to dust. An earth affinity indicates you have a strong base and will stand firm. Earth techniques are very popular for defensive ninjutsu and powerful taijutsu augmentation. Though don't be fooled, there are plenty of powerful and highly damaging ninjutsu._

_If you have a water affinity the paper will soak through. A water affinity indicates you have a fluid, loose stance and will often flow around obstacles in your path. Water techniques are well balanced between defensive techniques that can trap opponents as well as push them away to create much need separation and destructive offensive skills that can wash away an entire village. There is also the rare water affinity user that is able to use it in iryojutsu._

_If you have a fire affinity the paper will burn to ash. A fire affinity indicates you have a short temper and strong passions. Fire has very little in the way of defensive techniques but excels in destructive power that is not easily controlled._

_If you have a wind affinity the paper will cut apart. A wind affinity indicates you are aloof and easily distracted, but don't let that fool you as you are at the top of the food chain when it comes to combat. Wind is often called the affinity of combat, used in close to midrange fighting. Wind techniques can be used to both push and cut and defensively to redirect._

_If you have a lightning affinity the paper will crinkle. A lightning affinity indicates you are cold and unpredictable. Lightning techniques can be used to great effect in causing damage and enhancing ones abilities to devastating effect._

"I so should have a fire affinity," protested Naruto, sitting back from the book.

"Wind," said Shikamaru and Chouji at the same time.

"You think?"

Chouji nodded and grunted.

"Troublesome, probably, but that doesn't explain why you couldn't learn that katon technique," said Shikamaru, rubbing his temples.

"Well, wind is opposed to fire," said Chouji with a shrug.

"I doubt it's that simple. I'm pretty sure fire isn't my primary affinity either," said Shikamaru. "I'm guessing I'm either water or earth and water is directly opposed to fire."

"Hmm, maybe he has a super strong wind affinity or maybe the Kyuubi is messing with him," suggested Chouji.

"All possible but we really need to look into it more," said Shikamaru.

"We should go to Higurashi's tomorrow and get some chakra paper, maybe you guys can get that weekly quest with me this time now that we can group," offered Naruto.

"I'm game," said Chouji. "I need to get some new armor anyway."

"Maybe you can bring that leather, Higurashi might be able to do something with it," suggested Naruto, trying to be helpful.

"Worth looking into," said Shikamaru, yawning. "It's probably time we head out. Let's meet up tomorrow at Higurashi's around say 4:00 PM?"

"See you two there," said Naruto. Naruto couldn't help but feel excited as he eventually dozed off that night, his pre-sleep thoughts filled with unleashing untold elemental power on his enemies, Sasuke bowing down to him, Sakura fawning over him, getting the Hokage's hat. It was a good thought to fall asleep to.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto raced through the day, only too excited to meet up with his friends. It was another crappy mission, this time babysitting some kids but the experience and money was welcome all the same.

Naruto met up with Shikamaru and Chouji just outside of Higurashi's, he was a few minutes late but they didn't seem to mind his being a little tardy but two more levels to [Tree Climbing] was worth it.

**[Tree Climbing (Passive) Lv6 12.87% 10 CP per 5 seconds]**

By using your chakra to stick to surfaces you can now move more freely and better use your chakra.

Passively increases WIS 6%

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 6%

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," said Naruto, greeting them right away.

"It's only a few minutes, no big deal," said Shikamaru. "Anyway, let's head inside."

Naruto followed in behind the pair but just before he entered he paused. All through the market district were the merchants he knew only too well. Except they all had '?' above their heads like they had quests for him but instead of being gold color they were a metallic blue color.

"Huh," grunted Naruto, unintentionally narrowing his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't want more quests it was that this was undoubtedly going to be some new game mechanic that was going to drive him apeshit.

"Naruto, you coming?" asked Shikamaru, coming back out of the shop. Then he saw Naruto's narrowed eyes and him looking down the street. "What's up?"

Naruto quickly formed a team and invited Shikamaru. "Do you see the blue question marks?"

"Yeah, that's strange. Has it ever done that before?"

"Nope, this is new."

"Hmm, this is probably going to be troublesome, isn't it?"

"Probably," answered Naruto.

"Well, let's finish up in Higurashi's then we can see what that's all about," said Shikamaru.

Naruto nodded and finally followed Shikamaru into the shop.

"Yo, Naruto, you here for the weekly delivery? I'm sorry but I don't have one this week. Tenten got back from her mission early," explained Hiten.

Then Naruto saw the old man had a blue '?' above his head. "Well, have you got any work for me?"

"Well, if you're hard up I could use some scrap metal. If you scour some of the training fields I'm sure you'll find plenty just laying around. Shinobi tend to just discard their broken weapons wherever."

**Daily Quest Alert (0/5)**

**Salvage Operation: Collect broken weapons from training fields one through ten.**

**Collect 30 pieces of scrap metal.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Higurashi Weapons.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Higurashi Weapons.**

Naruto raised a surprised eyebrow when there was no experience associated with the quest, that and the (0/5) made him curious.

Naruto tapped the 'Accept' button.

**Daily Quest Accepted (1/5)**

Naruto groaned. "Is this something you need every day?"

"Well, I sure wouldn't say no to the free scrap metal," said Hiten with a chuckle.

"Okay, I'll take care of it," said Naruto. If Naruto understood the new mechanic correctly, the blue '?' was for daily quests of which he could only do five per day or accept five at a time and they only gave reputation points and money.

"Anyway, what can I do for you boys' today?"

"Chakra paper," said Shikamaru.

"Sorry boys, can only sell that to Chuunin and above. Maybe you can convince your sensei to buy it for you," explained Hiten, looking on sympathetically.

"Figures it would be something like that," said Shikamaru.

"Are you sure I can't convince you just this once?" pleaded Naruto.

"You know I would if I could Naruto but it's a big deal. If my store gets audited by the village and they find out I sold to genin they'd shut me down or fine me so heavily I'd have no choice but to go out of business anyway."

"It's okay, old man, I appreciate it anyway."

"Anything else I can get you boys?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Chouji, speaking up. "See, I got this hide and I was hoping to find out if I could get some better armor made or maybe traded for."

Hiten picked up the hide. "Now where did you boys run across a 'Papa Boar'? Them beasties is dangerous."

"We know," all three deadpanned.

"Anyway, this is some really nice leather. I could probably make you some nice gloves and boots or maybe a jacket. You'd have to pay for the labor and any other pieces for it of course."

"How good are we talking here?" asked Naruto.

"Better than what you're wearing now, but not much better," answered Hiten.

"What could you do with two hides?" Naruto asked quickly.

"Make more for him, why, you got another hide?"

Naruto pulled it out of his inventory and put it on the counter. "How much is it worth?"

"I usually pay about 6000 Ryo per hide," answered Hiten.

"Okay, so Chouji, I'll sell you mine for 3000 Ryo and you can get more that way. What do you say?"

"Deal," said Chouji, grinning and pulling out the money.

Naruto happily took it leaving Chouji with the hide. "Pleasure doing business with you."

"I hate you sometimes brat," said Hiten. "Still, good of you to look out for your friends. So what do you think, jacket, boots and gloves?"

"How much for the extras?"

"The most expensive part is the leather which you've provide. The rest of the bits and labor will run you about 10000 Ryo. Sound fair?"

"Yeah," said Chouji reluctantly, handing over the cash. "There went my Yakiniku Q binge."

"Totally worth it though right?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, I suppose," pouted Chouji.

"Well, it will be ready in a week, come back for your stuff then. In the meantime, you'd better hit the road if you want to collect all that scrap before I close up shop."

"You got it," said Naruto, saluting him with a grin.

Once back outside Shikamaru spoke first. "So, daily quests now, huh?"

"Yeah, I saw some kind of unlock message about that a while ago but had no idea what it was talking about. I think I can do up to four more today so we should probably figure out which quests to take and go from there.

"You should probably start with the farm stand and the general supply store and maybe the apothecary," suggested Shikamaru. "Then Yakiniku Q, it would be nice if we could all go somewhere other than Ichiraku all the time."

"Blasphemer," hissed Naruto.

"Blasphemer," hissed Chouji in response to Naruto.

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru.

So it was the trio spent the rest of the night doing daily quests.

**Daily Quest Alert (1/5)**

**Scaredy Cat: Scare away the alley cats around Yakiniku Q's garbage bins.**

**Scare away 5 cats and Tora.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Yakiniku Q.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Yakiniku Q.**

**Daily Quest Accepted (2/5)**

**Daily Quest Alert (2/5)**

**Stop Thief: Catch the fruit thieves and recover the stolen goods.**

**Catch the thief and recover the stolen goods.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Farm Stand.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Farm Stand. **

**Daily Quest Accepted (3/5)**

**Daily Quest Alert (3/5)**

**Rats Again: Eliminate the Chakra Rat nest in the basement store room.**

**Kill 20 'Chakra Rats' &amp; 1 'King Chakra Rat'.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Konoha General Store.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Konoha General Store.**

**Daily Quest Accepted (4/5)**

**Daily Quest Alert (4/5)**

**Missing Leaves: A box of medicinal leaves was delivered to the wrong shop. Find the missing crate and return it to Konoha Apothecary.**

**Recover the missing crate of medicinal leaves.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Konoha Apothecary.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Konoha Apothecary.**

**Daily Quest Accepted (5/5)**

It was a really long night but the fifty reputation points per quest plus the money was kind of worth it.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV18 **Next Level: **19.99%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **2679/2679

**CP: **2508/2508

**STR: **36 (20.60) = 56.60

**VIT: **39 (48.90) = 87.90

**DEX: **36 (20.60) = 56.60

**INT: **54 (16.50) = 69.50

**WIS: **40 (11.40) = 51.40

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **112 (28.00) = 140.00

**SPD: **10 (49.30) = 49.30

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **16

**Ryo: **23550

**[Cooking (Active) Lv15 Exp 9.12% CP 5]**

Eating right will help you grow up big and strong. Food can be made to keep you alive but also to make you stronger.

Additional 7.5% to [Cooking] speed when active.

**New Cooking Recipes****:**

**[Mushroom Soup]**

Restores 300 HP

+10 VIT &amp; +10 DEX for 30 minutes

**[Ham Steak]**

Restores 300 HP

+10 VIT &amp; +10 STR for 30 minutes

**[Ham and Eggs]**

Restores 500 HP

+20 VIT &amp; +10 STR for 30 minutes


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto awoke yawning, he may have been game fully rested but he felt a bit off. After finding out about the daily quests the day before and drudging through them it left him with plenty to think about. It was just more stuff the game was throwing at him. He couldn't help but wonder if things would always be this hectic. It was surprising then when he suddenly realized that he hadn't taken a day off, just off to relax and do nothing since the game thing started.

"That's it, this weekend I'm taking off, no training, no work, no dailies or quests," stated Naruto, suddenly feeling quite a bit lighter mentally.

After the previous night, Shikamaru and Chouji had already decided to take a day off of training with Naruto so it left him to his own devices.

As such, it didn't take Naruto very long to go through his morning and get out to the market district to pick up the same five daily quests, figuring he'd get them done before meeting his team.

"Glad you could join us, Naruto," said Kakashi, watching Naruto sprint into the field.

"Sorry, I'm not late, am I?"

"No, you're right on time," said Kakashi.

"Whew, that was close," said Naruto, wiping some imaginary sweat from his brow.

"Anyway, let's get to the mission office and see what's available to us," suggested Kakashi.

Naruto was agitated by the mission assigned. They had to catch Tora, the cat that Naruto had expended quite a bit of effort scaring off that morning. It made him really wish the game came with some kind of mini-map feature.

**Professional Quest Alert**

That was new. Yet more 'gamer' bull shit to make Naruto's life a little more difficult.

**Fuinjutsu can do anything: Create a new seal to imitate an active mapping utility.**

**Earn level 20 to [Fuinjutsu] Skill and use 'Discovery'.**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp**

Naruto accepted the quest, still not completely sure what 'Discovery' was or what it did but it couldn't hurt him any to work on it, plus it was worth a good chunk of experience. The only down side is that Naruto would have to buy a lot more fuinjutsu supplies from Higurashi's in addition to putting in a lot of effort toward leveling his fuinjutsu.

Naruto sighed but followed his team on the hunt for Tora. Hours later and several unpleasant scratches that wouldn't fade, 'Demonic Infected Scratches'. How the hell that cat was a demon, Naruto did not know, understand, or want to understand for that matter?

"So, next stop is the library," said Kakashi, earning three relatively surprised looks from his students.

"What's at the library?" asked Naruto.

"You'll just have to wait and see," said Kakashi, his face still buried in the porn book.

"You'd better not be taking us there to try and get us to start reading your books," snapped Sakura, her eyebrow twitching in clear annoyance.

"I would never," said Kakashi, mocking being appalled by the suggestion.

"You would," deadpanned Naruto and Sakura in one voice.

"Hn."

Kakashi rolled his one eye and guided the group toward the library.

"Hatake-san, I told you not to bring that trash in here," chided the librarian upon seeing the group.

Naruto frowned thinking she was talking about him.

"But it's a book," protested Kakashi. "Aren't all pieces of extraordinary literature welcome in such hallowed halls?"

"Geisha Hotaru, is literature. Ruroni Kenshin is literature. Icha Icha is not nor will ever be considered literature so long as I run this library. Now put it away before I burn it and you with it."

Kakashi paled slightly and put his book away.

"Now, what can I do for you and your team, Hatake-san?" she asked, smiling pleasantly.

"I'm taking my team to the restricted section," said Kakashi.

"You're not teaching them jutsu from there are you?" she asked, looking at him rather pointedly.

"Of course not," said Kakashi. "I was told they needed to learn a taijutsu style, it's not really something I specialize in so here we are."

"Okay, but I'll be monitoring you and them very closely."

Kakashi swallowed heavily. "Yes, ma'am."

Naruto looked at the byplay between the pair with a fair amount of amusement. Ever since the old man had changed the librarian, Naruto had been able to come in and check out a book here and there but he was always cautious about it, especially with the old bat behind the counter glaring at him. But now that she was glaring at Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, and himself all equally he was actually very reassured.

"If any of you damage my books, I damage you, understood?" demanded the old lady looking at the group.

"Yes, ma'am," they all chorused immediately.

Silently the group moved through the library and up to the third floor. There the group was met by a heavily reinforced door guarded by four shinobi, all wearing ANBU masks and all with '?' next to their levels. It was strange too that there were no names, just their animal names.

**Gecko Lv?**

**Wasp Lv?**

**Wolf Lv?**

**Ox Lv?**

"Now, my little ones, behave yourself in here or they will probably kill you and me and then everyone else in the library just to make sure," warned Kakashi.

Naruto couldn't tell if he was joking when he said it but nodded his agreement anyway.

Kakashi then knocked on the door.

A moment later a slat opened in the door at eye level.

"Password?"

"Gokakyu," replied Kakashi.

The slat slammed closed and from behind the door what sounded like gears shifting a moving began. It took a minute before the door finally swung open.

Inside were row upon row of books and scrolls, all of them glowing with skill names just waiting to be learned. And once again inside the room were four more ANBU, each one looking ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Afternoon," said Kakashi, inclining his head to the ANBU.

"Taicho," returned one of them in greeting.

**Bear Lv?**

Naruto was curious but let it drop. The last thing he needed to was irritate the ANBU, especially with all of the effort he's been putting into improving his standing in Konoha.

"Come along," said Kakashi, walking through the rows without stopping.

Naruto followed along but was so very tempted to start picking up scrolls and books and learning the skills in them.

After a minute of navigate the rows Kakashi stopped at the end of one of the rows. "Now, down this aisle you will find all of the various taijutsu style's Konoha has gathered over the years. You are allowed to find one beginner level taijutsu style you think would work well for you. We will then have a copy made and sent to me to give to you."

"I already have the Uchiha Interceptor style," said Sasuke. "Why would I ever want to learn another style?"

"And that is your prerogative," said Kakashi. "But you'd be surprised, you might find something else worth learning."

Sasuke shrugged and walked forward, glancing at the various scroll, occasionally picking one up and looking it over only to frown and put it back.

"How are the styles organized?"

"Not sure, you could always go find that librarian again and ask her, Sakura-chan," offered Kakashi.

"That's okay, I'll figure it out," said Sakura, trying to frantically wave off the suggestion.

"I figured as much," said Kakashi.

"So what kind of style do you think I should look for?" asked Sakura.

"It depends, if you want to specialize in genjutsu, I'd recommend you look for a taijutsu designed to create separation between you and your opponent. If you're looking to specialize in iryojutsu, look for something that specializes in dodging. Speaking of, have you thought at all about what you'd like to specialize in?"

"Not really, Kakashi-sensei," answered Sakura, looking down. "I don't really know what to do."

"Well, you'll have to figure it out sooner or later," said Kakashi. "I guess for now look for both scrolls. I'll see if I can pull some strings for you to get both."

"What if she'd rather specialize in ninjutsu or taijutsu?" asked Naruto, trying to give Sakura some more options.

"Sakura-chan, would either of those interest you?" asked Kakashi.

Sakura quickly shook her head in the negative.

"Well, there you go," said Kakashi.

Sakura started down the aisle herself.

"Any advice for me?" asked Naruto.

"Nope, you still need to decide your own path as well. Defensive, ninjutsu or even bukijutsu."

"Thanks for the help," said Naruto, frowning at his teacher. It was a dilemma that Naruto was still trying to figure out. What was his path going to be?

Kakashi just smiled behind his mask and motioned Naruto into the aisle.

Naruto started down the aisle, his observe going wild with yellow boxes giving skill names. Finally, one caught Naruto's eye.

**[Beginner Uzuken Taijutsu]**

Naruto picked up the scroll and declined the learn option, actually opening the scroll to read the initial description.

_Uzuken is the traditional taijutsu style of the Uzumaki Clan. It relies on hit and run tactics, attacking from multiple directions and angles causing confusion and disorientation to opponents. Often used with weapons to great effect._

Naruto liked this one, he liked this one a lot. Naruto rolled the scroll back up and tucked it under one arm. This would be his first choice of taijutsu styles. He continued his search since he had the time to look now, there may still have been another style he'd like to use.

**[Beginner Nebaiken Taijutsu]**

_Nebaiken is a taijutsu that uses the principal of chakra sticking to attach yourself to your opponent's body or clothing and deliver devastating elbow and knee strikes. Users will often suffer severe damage in return._

It would be a great defensive style, especially since Naruto could take a hit like no one else he'd ever met. Still, he liked Uzuken much more. Naruto tucked that scroll under his arm next to the other and continued looking. He checked a few others before he unexpectedly took a scroll to the head.

Naruto glared at the source of the scroll, it was Sasuke. "What the hell was that for?"

"That's the style you should learn," he said simply, going back to the shelves.

Naruto frowned but picked up the scroll in question.

**[Beginner Kageken Taijutsu]**

_Kageken relies heavily on the use of Kage Bunshin. Designed to use coordinated strikes between the user and his clones to close on his opponent to inflict damage and evade damage at the same time. Highly effective but very difficult to learn given the chakra burdens of Kage Bunshin._

Naruto hated to admit it but Sasuke was right, this was probably the best style for Naruto. With his ability to use crazy amounts of Kage Bunshin he couldn't do much better than this.

Naruto looked again at the three scrolls in hand, he put the [Beginner Nebaiken Taijutsu] scroll back on the shelf and walked with the other two back to Kakashi to ask his opinion.

"What did you find there, Naruto?" asked Kakashi, interested in the two scrolls in Naruto's hands.

"[Kageken] and [Uzuken]," he answered. "I can't decide which to learn though. Sasuke is right that [Kageken] is perfect for me but . . . [Uzuken] is my heritage. How can I pick one over the other?"

"So learn both?" suggested Kakashi.

"I don't know if my gamer ability would let me do that. Every time I've learned a new taijutsu level it replaces the previous one."

"Hmm, I can see where that would be a problem," said Kakashi, rubbing his chin in thought. "On the other hand, you never know until you try."

"I guess, thanks."

"No problem, now hand them over," said Kakashi, holding out a hand to Naruto.

Naruto placed the two scrolls in his hand. "When will the copies be delivered?"

"They will be delivered to us at our training field by the end of practice today, that's assuming Sasuke and Sakura ever pick a scroll or two."

As if she heard his complaint, Sakura came up a moment later with a scroll in hand and handed it to Kakashi, smiling the whole way.

**[Beginner Namekuji Hime Taijutsu]**

"Ho, ho," said Kakashi, apparently very approvingly. "Tsunade-sama's own taijutsu style. You know that many have tried to master this style but none have ever succeeded, not even her own apprentice."

Sakura let doubt flash through her eyes for a moment but steeled her will after a second. "I can do it, you even said my chakra control is perfect. I have to do it."

"So the path of the medic it is then," said Kakashi, clearly trying to confirm Sakura's choice.

"Well, I figure with the way Naruto is always getting beat up, I can get plenty of practice plus when Sasuke-kun gets his Sharingan he'll be using genjutsu stronger than anything I can make so this would be better for the team," Sakura explained her decision.

"Very true," said Kakashi, nodding his acceptance.

"I don't get that beat up," pouted Naruto.

"Yes you do," said Sasuke, emerging from another aisle. He tossed a scroll to Kakashi.

"Sasuke, I said taijutsu," said Kakashi, not looking at the scroll after seeing Sasuke come out an aisle that had nothing to do with taijutsu.

"I know, but I already told you, I have the Uchiha Interceptor style. That will actually help me."

Kakashi sighed and looked at the scroll, so did Naruto and Sakura.

**[Beginner Chokuto Kenjutsu]**

"Sword skills?" asked Sakura, Fangirl written all over her face. "You're so cool!" she all but screamed in fanaticism.

"I suppose this is close enough to taijutsu for me to allow it," said Kakashi, placing it with the other scrolls he'd collected. "You'll have to buy your own sword."

"I can buy my own weapons," said Sasuke, firm in his decision.

"You can come with me to Higurashi's after team session. The old man has the best weapons," offered Naruto.

"I can take care of myself," said Sasuke, crossing his arms.

"Dude, it won't kill you to spend some time with me outside of team training and missions. You don't have to be a jerk."

"I thought I made it clear? I have no interest in becoming friends with any of you," said Sasuke, walking toward the exit.

"There are days when I really hate him," said Naruto, watching the jerk leave.

"I'll go with you," said Sakura, speaking up from behind him. "I need more kunai and shuriken anyway."

"Cool," said Naruto. "I don't really need anything but I could stand to pick up some more sealing supplies."

"Well, let's get moving, we've got trees waiting for you and they certainly won't climb themselves," said Kakashi, smiling. "You three go ahead and I'll meet you there shortly. I need to go put in the order to get these copied."

Kakashi joined the trio at the training field as promised about twenty minutes later.

Naruto didn't mind as he had already gained a level in his [Tree Climbing] skill by the time Kakashi arrived.

"Okay, that's enough of that for now, gather round my cute little genin," Kakashi called, seeing Sakura had already exhausted herself.

"What's up?" asked Naruto, not feeling draining in the slightest.

"Just a quick update. Once your scrolls arrive we'll break training for the day. I want you three to spend the rest of the day working on the scrolls, you don't have to do it here or even together but I do want you to start familiarizing yourself with them. The reason is that starting tomorrow we'll start sparing using your new styles so you can begin to get acclimated. Sasuke, that means in addition to buying a chokuto for yourself you'll need to buy a chokuto boken," explained Kakashi. "After sparring for a bit we'll do some more chakra control work. At least until I'm satisfied with your progress. Once I feel you have significantly improved we'll start working on team tactics and simulations. Any questions? No, good, get back to work." Kakashi didn't even give them a chance to question it at the end.

Naruto just shrugged in the end and went back to his thoroughly scarred tree and began running up and down it without pausing.

It was almost two hours later the trio almost stopped as one when an unknown kunoichi appeared in the field. The woman handed Kakashi a scroll then vanished within seconds.

"I'm guessing I won't get any more out of you guys today so you may as well come down here and get your scrolls," said Kakashi, seeing the eager looks on his students faces.

Naruto charged down his tree, racing to be the first to arrive.

Kakashi though made a big long production out of it just for the sake of messing with his students. It was more than a little irritating to the genin.

Kakashi finally unsealed the scrolls from the single scroll he was given. He then handed Sasuke and Sakura their scrolls before dragging it out even more. Sakura and Sasuke both went off to their own area of the training field and sat down to start reading their scrolls.

"Walk with me, Naruto," said Kakashi, twirling the scrolls between his fingers tauntingly.

Naruto obeyed without question, his entire focus was on the scrolls Kakashi was teasing him with.

Once they had put some distance between the other two genin Kakashi stopped. "So, I've had some time to think about your situation."

Naruto reluctantly tore his gaze off the scrolls and focused on Kakashi. "Oh yeah, come up with anything?"

"It was a thought, but what if you were to learn one of the scrolls like the Uzuken first. Then tried to learn Kageken but more to augment the Uzuken. Make a Kage no Uzuken taijutsu style."

"I don't know, that might work but . . . I just don't know. I've never considered it before. Do you really think that would work?"

"Only one way to find out," said Kakashi, handing Naruto the Uzuken scroll.

**You've obtained the skill book [Beginner Uzuken Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the button to accept.

**You cannot learn the skill.**

**Requires: DEX 50**

Naruto couldn't help but groan.

"What is it?"

"Say I need fifty dexterity points."

"How many do you have?"

"Thirty-six but have some points set aside for just in case things like this so . . ." Naruto opened his status page and added the fourteen points to his DEX. Then he tried the book again.

**You've obtained the skill book [Beginner Uzuken Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

**You've upgraded your skill 'Advanced Academy Taijutsu' to 'Beginner Uzuken Taijutsu'.**

**[Beginner Uzuken Taijutsu (Passive) Lv30 Exp: 0.00%]**

Passively increases STR 10%

Passively increases VIT 10%

Passively increases DEX 20%

"And now for the Kageken," said Kakashi, offering him the scroll.

**You've obtained the skill book [Beginner Kageken Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto took a deep breath and tapped the accept button.

**Warning, this will replace 'Beginner Uzuken Taijutsu', do you wish to proceed?**

"Crap, is says it will replace it."

"That's too bad, I guess you'll have to decide for yourself. Why don't you use the Uzuken for a few days and decide how you like it," suggested Kakashi. "For now, just hold onto the other scroll."

Naruto nodded and tapped the 'Decline (N)' button.

**You've obtained the skill book [Beginner Kageken Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to augment the 'Beginner Uzuken Taijutsu' Skill?**

Naruto's eyes widened then he shouted. "Woo hoo! Yatta!"

"What?" asked Kakashi, truly curious.

"After I hit no, another option popped up asking if I wanted to augment Uzuken."

"There you go then," said Kakashi, smiling through is mask at Naruto.

Naruto tapped the accept button.

**You've upgraded your skill 'Beginner Uzuken Taijutsu' to 'Beginner Kage no Uzuken Taijutsu'**

Passively increases STR 10%

Passively increases VIT 20%

Passively increases DEX 20%

"I take it that worked well then?" asked Kakashi.

"Hell yeah it did, this is freaking badass! I just need the intermediate scrolls for both styles to upgrade to the next grade," said Naruto, the energy and excitement were practically flowing off of him.

"I'm glad that worked so well," said Kakashi. "Anyway, we'll see what you've got tomorrow when we start sparring.

Naruto grinned.

"For now, go collect your teammates and head for Higurashi's," ordered Kakashi, only to vanish a moment later.

Naruto ran back to the field to see only Sakura remained.

"Where did Sasuke go?"

"He left, said he had stuff to do," answered Sakura with a shrug.

"You waited for me?"

"We did say we were going to Higurashi's right?"

"Yeah," said Naruto, grinning and scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment. "We did, didn't we?" He honestly hadn't expect Sakura to wait for him.

"Afterwards, do you want to go to that training field again?" asked Sakura. "I could use the practice."

"Sure," said Naruto. "We just have to be quick about it, I don't particularly want to be hunting rats in the dark."

Sakura shivered slightly. "Yeah, let's get a move on."

Naruto and Sakura hurried through shopping at Higurashi's and got to the training field to clear it out. It went much faster this time than the first time they had come. Still, it got Sakura another much needed level.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the message then closed it and rolled over to try to sleep more, this time just for the sake of. He quickly discovered it wasn't going to happen.

Naruto got out of bed after lounging for a while before accepting it was boring and not worth it. Naruto decided he was hungry and made himself a few Cup Ramen. So there he was, sitting on his beat up couch, eating with absolutely no idea what he was going to do on his self-appointed day off? Usually by now he would have cleared a training field or done his daily quests or started training his skills.

With his ramen devoured, Naruto grabbed one of his game console controller's and flipped the machine on. But after about five minutes of play he felt somewhat disgusted with himself. It wasn't fun anymore. I was dull and slow paced and just . . . not fun anymore. Naruto turned the game off and gave a look out his window, it was sunny out, a really nice day to go out.

Naruto stood and stretched before walking toward his bathroom. Ten minutes later he left with a giant frown on his face. His damned toilet finally broke completely. The damned seat finally busted off entirely and now the damned thing wouldn't flush and considering what he left in there it was not a good thing.

Naruto dressed and left his apartment walking down the stairs to his landlord's apartment where he knocked on the door.

"I'm coming," called a voice from the other side of the door. When it opened the landlord glared at him. "Oh, it's you, what do you want?"

"My toilet is broken," replied Naruto, not sure what the man would do.

"And that's my problem why?"

"You're the landlord," said Naruto as if it was obvious.

"So," he replied shortly.

"So it's your responsibility to fix it and everything else in my apartment that's broken," Naruto nearly shouted at the man.

"Hah, you seem to think you live in some major luxury apartment complex where they have maintenance staff. In case you haven't noticed, this is what's known as a slum. That means crap gets rundown and broken and never fixed unless the people that live here are stupid enough to try and fix it themselves. In a few years, this place will become such a shit hole that some rich shinobi or merchant will buy the building from me cheap, evict all the residents, take the building down and build some new luxury place until it runs down and becomes a slum and the process repeats over and over again."

"So what the fuck am I supposed to do about the fucking toilet?"

"Fix it yourself," said man, slamming the door shut in Naruto's face.

**Life Quest Alert**

**Flushed down the drain: Fix your toilet.**

**Learn 'Home Repair and Maintenance' skill and use it to fix your toilet.**

**Completion Award: 1000 Exp**

**One month of free rent.**

**Increase reputation with landlord.**

**Completion Failure: 100 Exp**

**One month of double rent.**

**Unlivable Apartment – Eviction**

**Decrease reputation with landlord.**

Naruto groaned in irritation. This was supposed to be a day off damn it. But this was something that had to be done and sooner rather than later. It also meant he'd have to go to Konoha General Store, a place he was still hated which meant the price for part would be jacked up on him.

Naruto trudged through town to the general store, the blue '?' hovering over the clerks head just begging to be accepted.

"Ah good, you're here again to kill them rats," said the clerk.

"Ah, I actually needed to buy some stuff," said Naruto.

"If you ain't here for the rats then get out," said the man, pointing toward the front door.

"If I kill the rats, will you let me buy some stuff when I'm done?" asked Naruto.

The clerk sneered. "I'll tell you what, you kill the rats, and I'll let you buy some stuff but just this once. And don't you dare try to abuse my generosity you little punk."

**Daily Quest Alert (0/5)**

**Rats Again: Eliminate the Chakra Rat nest in the basement store room.**

**Kill 40 'Chakra Rats' &amp; 2 'King Chakra Rat'.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Konoha General Store.**

**12-Hour Shopping Pass for Konoha General Store**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Konoha General Store.**

So no money but the shopping pass was what he really needed so it was worth it just this once even if it was double the number of rats from usual.

**Daily Quest Accepted (1/5)**

Naruto went into the basement and slaughtered the little bastards, it took a few hours because it was a whole lot of rats to kill and very little experience for his troubles. Thankfully he didn't get bit this time which was actually kind of awesome.

Naruto turned in the quest and got his pass which gave him a status buff '12-Hour Shopping Pass – Only valid in Konoha General Store'.

"You got any books on home repair?" asked Naruto.

The clerk eyed him for minute. "Aisle 9," he answered, pointing down the line from where they were.

It didn't take long for Naruto locate the aisle in question. There were actually quite a few books on 'Home Repair and Maintenance'. Naruto grabbed the book [Beginner Home Repair and Maintenance] and put it in his basket. Then he grabbed the [Toilet Repair], [Door Repair], [Sink Repair] and [Cabinet Repair]. He really wanted to get the books for [Stove Repair] and [Refrigerator Repair] but they both required Intermediate skill level. There were a lot more that interested him but for now this would be enough to do some much needed repairs around his home.

Naruto went and bought the books, they were only 500 Ryo each and took them home. Naruto burned the beginner book first which gave him the 'Life Skill'.

**[Home Repair and Maintenance (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00 CP: 5**

Everyman should know how to fix the things around home that break. It's amazing how much can be done with just a hammer and nails.

Additional 10% to [Home Repair and Maintenance] speed when active.

He then burned the other four books which didn't get him any recipes like he expected but instead increased his level by one per book.

Knowledge in hand, Naruto went into the bathroom to fix the toilet only to get a warning message.

**Cannot use [Home Repair and Maintenance].**

**Requires: Basic Tool Kit**

Naruto wanted very badly to bang his head against the wall. He should have known better. Of course he'd need tools, tools he didn't own and would now have to go buy. Thankfully, he still had the shopping pass status buff.

Naruto reentered the store and despite the glare from the clerk, he allowed Naruto to shop.

"I need a basic tool kit," he said to the clerk.

"Aisle 1," the man growled.

Naruto walked down the aisle looking at the various tool kits available. He had no idea what was basic and what wasn't. Then he saw it.

**Home Repair and Maintenance Basic Tool Kit – All the necessities to complete any home repair that does not require a specialized tool.**

Naruto sighed in relief when the [Observe] told him as much about the tool kit, it really was perfect.

As Naruto walked back to the front to pay for his stuff another thought struck him. He'd need parts to fix the broken stuff at home. So Naruto started to explore, aisle by aisle looking for the stuff he'd need.

He found the toilet supplies first and felt even more lost than before. There were toilet seats galore, oval and round, padded and unpadded, wood, plastic, or porcelain, and then there were also some heated seats. Who needed a heated toilet seat? Naruto grabbed a round wooden seat that was about the right size for his toilet. Then he had to get the parts for the inside of the toilet to make it flush. He decided for that he would get all new guts just to be on the safe side. Then he found he could actually replace the whole toilet but it was just a bit too expensive so the parts would be enough.

Next Naruto found the bathroom sink fixtures just down the aisle from the toilet stuff. He grabbed a basic faucet with white handles to replace the one in the bathroom that looked almost exactly the same.

After that, Naruto has to search for door handles and locks, he figured if he was going to mess with one door, he may as well fix all of his doors.

And last he got the necessary cabinet hardware to fix the hinges and handles, he couldn't really afford to do more than that.

When Naruto put it on the counter the clerk naturally sneered at him, not that he expected different so long as he was considered hated by the shop still. Naruto watched as the price kept going up and his wallet felt thinner and thinner. This was not favorable for him. 27050 Ryo later, Naruto felt completely beaten for the day. He'd end up having to do the daily quests anyway just to keep himself out of the poor house.

Naruto finally got home a few hours later, he did his daily quests despite not really wanting to. After that he set about repairing his home. It was totally worth it in the end.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV18** Next Level: **56.09%

**Affiliation:** Konoha

**HP: **2718/2718

**CP: **2508/2508

**STR: **36 (20.60) = 56.60

**VIT: **39 (52.80) = 91.80

**DEX: **50 (27.00) = 77.00

**INT: **54 (16.50) = 70.50

**WIS: **40 (11.80) = 51.80

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **112 (28.00) = 140.00

**SPD: **10 (39.30) = 49.30

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster** (-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **2

**Ryo: **4000

**[Beginner Kage no Uzuken Taijutsu (Passive) Lv30 Exp: 0.00%]**

Uzuken is the traditional taijutsu style of the Uzumaki Clan. It relies on hit and run tactics, attacking from multiple directions and angles causing confusion and disorientation to opponents. Often used with weapons to great effect. Kageken relies heavily on the use of Kage Bunshin. Designed to use coordinated strikes between the user and his clones to close on his opponent to inflict damage and evade damage at the same time. Highly effective but very difficult to learn given the chakra burdens of Kage Bunshin. The combination of the two styles has created something new and very dangerous for anyone stupid enough to face a master of such a style. (Requires 'Intermediate Kageken Taijutsu' and 'Intermediate Uzuken Taijutsu' to upgrade.)

Passively increases STR 10%

Passively increases VIT 20%

Passively increases DEX 20%

**[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Active) Lv12 Exp: 16.41% CP: ½ total CP]**

Kage Bunshin are corporeal copies capable of everything you are include fighting, using jutsu and learning new things. The first kage bunshin will reduce your CP by ½ and each additional kage bunshin's thereafter will reduce the kage bunshin's CP by ½. For example, if you have CP: 2000, one kage bunshin will have CP: 1000, but one hundred Kage Bunshin will have CP: 10. Kage bunshin will dispel with one solid hit or when they run out of chakra, if they die by being hit, the unused CP will return to your CP pool.

Passively increases chances for a Kage Bunshin to survive a direct hit by 1%.

**[Home Repair and Maintenance (Active) Lv12 Exp: 0.00 CP: 5**

Everyman should know how to fix the things around home that break. It's amazing how much can be done with just a hammer and nails.

Additional 15% to [Home Repair and Maintenance] speed when active.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Last chapter before the wave arc. I think with this chapter done I will have just about set all of the various game rules but little things may still creep up here and there so please be patient and try to enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto was once again awake and unable to sleep any longer, this time on Sunday and as a result was very quickly bored out of his skull. It was nice to relax but he'd gotten so used to doing something to occupy his hours that doing nothing was more exhausting. It was not good.

"Fuck it," grumbled Naruto. He was out the door a few minutes later. He started in the market district going through the monotonous daily quests, making a little money and even less experience. Happily, Naruto ran into Chouji and Shikamaru coming out of Yakiniku Q.

"Hey guys," greeted Naruto, just finishing up his last daily quest.

"Couldn't resist, huh?" asked Shikamaru.

"Nope, I'm just not made for sitting still. Especially when this game is my life."

Chouji chuckled. "Could be worse. Anyway, want to hit up a few training fields, grind some experience?"

Naruto looked at Chouji funny. "Have you been playing video games?"

Chouji grinned. "Yeah, a little. I got one of those old systems from when we first started at the academy. It's been fun."

"Yeah, I tried to sit back and play some yesterday. Didn't go so well. I almost wanted to pull my hair out."

"So you interested?" asked Shikamaru.

Naruto grinned and wordlessly formed a team and invited them to join it.

"So starting at 11?" asked Chouji.

"Sure," said Naruto. "It should be reset by now. I took Sakura-chan again a few days ago so we should be good."

"Awesome," said Chouji. "Let's roll."

"You can roll, personally I'm going to run," joked Naruto, earning a snort of laughter from Shikamaru.

"Let's just go already," said Shikamaru, leaping up to the nearest rooftop.

The small team arrived in the field and were quickly attacked by rats as expected. What was not expected was so many rats to be attacking at once.

"What is going on, there are twice as many rats as usual?" asked Naruto, slicing another rat in half.

"No idea, but this is going to become troublesome if they keep coming at this pace," said Shikamaru, his shadow grabbing three rats and strangling them all quickly before tossing them aside.

Chouji was mega stomping rats left and right and quickly draining chakra points in the process. "We're going to get overwhelmed. Did you put this on hard mode or something?"

"No, I wouldn't even know how to do that let alone know if it's even possible," complained Naruto, raining down kunai and shuriken on another wave of rats that was just emerging, wiping out nearly half of them instantly and damaging the rest.

"Well something is different," said Shikamaru.

The sound of three girls shrieking a moment later caught all of the boys' attention.

"Shit, that's why," said Naruto. "We need to regroup with the girls and work together. The difficulty increased because there are more of us in the zone."

"Troublesome, Chouji, use Nikudan Sensha to open a path for us. Naruto, lay down heavy kunai and shuriken on either side of him to buy us some more time," ordered Shikamaru.

Chouji immediately turned into a ball of spinning death, plowing through dozens of rats charging toward the three girls that came into the field.

Chouji came out of his spin just before the group of girls.

"Ino, Hinata, Sakura, down now!" shouted Naruto, leaping as high as he could then spraying the ground all around them with hundreds of kunai and shuriken buying all of them some time to regroup.

"Naruto, what the hell is with the rats? There are so many this time?"

"It's because there are so many of us here, speaking of, why are the three of you here?" Shikamaru answered and queried.

"I came to train," said Sakura, giving Ino the stink eye.

"I thought, Forehead here was up to no good so I followed her," stated Ino.

"Umm," stuttered Hinata, panicking slightly.

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru. "Fine, you're here now so focus, follow my orders exactly and do what you're told when you're told or we're all going to end up really hurt here."

"Why should I-"

"Ino, now is not the time," snapped Shikamaru, stabbing a king chakra rat then barbequing it with a blast of fire. "These things will kill us."

Ino paled. It was unusual for Shikamaru to yell at anyone, let alone yell at her. It made her suddenly realize the danger of the situation they were in.

"How many more waves, Naruto?" asked Chouji, he was starting to run low on chakra.

"Six or seven, I lost count when we moved to the girls," he said, spawning clones to assist.

"Hinata, get up to the front line with Naruto and Chouji. Ino, when Hinata knocks a rat down, finish it. Sakura, you've been here before so I expect you know what to do here, I want you to provide range support and if you know any first aid, help out where you can," ordered Shikamaru.

Hinata ran up to stand between Naruto and Chouji and began rapidly striking the rats, knocking them down stunned.

Ino hesitated killing them at first until one popped up and bit her. After that she was merciless, stabbing rats left and right.

"Okay, the abomination should be here soon," said Shikamaru as the flow of rats slowed down significantly.

**Chakra Rat Abomination Lv 20**

**HP: 2500/2500 CP: 1000/1000**

**The rare abomination, a chakra mutated creature so far gone it has taken to eating its own kind. They are often drawn out when their food source is threatened.**

"This is bad," said Naruto. "It's quite a bit stronger than the ones we usually face. This is going to get bloody. Chouji, I'll act as the shield, I can take more hits and damage than you or anyone else here. Just make sure you kill this ugly fuck fast."

"You got it, Naruto," said Chouji, jumping back to Shikamaru's side.

"Okay, we need to give Naruto some time to piss it off, use this time to bandage any wounds or take any antidotes you might have on you," ordered Shikamaru, pulling out a small vile from his hip pouch and quickly gulping it down, while Chouji did the same.

"I have extras," said Sakura, offering one to both Ino and Hinata.

"I didn't get bitten," stuttered Hinata. "But thank you, Sakura-san."

"Thanks, Forehead," said Ino, taking one and gulping it down.

Sakura nodded and gulped one down herself.

"Sakura, can you bandage my arm?" asked Chouji, showing her a gash that was bleeding freely.

Sakura pulled a roll of bandages from her pouch and wrapped Chouji's arm up as quickly as she could before tying it off. "You're good to go."

"Thanks," said Chouji.

Meanwhile, Naruto was doing everything in his power to piss of the abomination. "You kiss your mother with that mouth? Or did you eat her too?"

"Okay, Chouji, shoulder ram it," ordered Shikamaru. "Naruto, give us any explosive tags you've got while it's dazed.

Naruto leapt back to the group handed them a stack of tags then jumped right back to abomination, jabbing a kunai into one of its eyes causing it to howl in pain.

"Hinata, Ino, while Naruto keeps it distracted I need you to help out with placing these tags on it."

"Hinata, can you disable its legs?" called Naruto, dodging another wild swing from the beast and jabbing another kunai into its shoulder only to get smacked to the ground by its tail. Naruto winced in pain but rolled back away from the rat and back up to his feet. He threw a handful of shuriken at it buying him only a few seconds before it was on him again.

Naruto blocked a hammering fist above his head from the rat, causing his knees to buckle slightly. This rat wasn't playing nice today.

Hinata ran in, chakra blazing off her hands as she struck hard at the rats legs and knees. She danced around it and over its tail, rapidly striking at the beast as she moved. She was fearless in that moment and it was awesome.

"Alright, Hinata!" shouted Naruto, grinning at the time and space it bought him. With the rat's movement stopped they were able to separate from it and catch their breath a bit. It didn't last long as the rat once again charged after Naruto.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" shouted Naruto, spawning as many clones as he could with the limited Chakra he had left at that point. The clones tackled the rat back.

"Now!" shouted Shikamaru, signaling everyone to start tagging the rat with explosive notes while Naruto held the abomination to the ground.

Shikamaru heard the popping first signaling some of the clones were dispersing. "Five seconds!"

It was the longest five seconds Shikamaru ever experienced. "Get clear now!"

"Katsu!" shouted Naruto, channeling chakra through his clones into the explosive tags.

The ground shook with the detonation.

"He's still not down," said Naruto, panting.

"Chouji, toss Naruto up over it. I'll try to hold it," ordered Shikamaru, focusing as hard as he could to hold its shadow. Even if it was weakened it was still strong as hell.

Chouji, sprinted to Naruto. As soon as he got to him he enlarged his hands.

Naruto stepped up onto the hands and was soon rocketed skyward. Naruto dropped fast, angling himself head first at the beast that Shikamaru was straining to hold. He pulled a kunai into each hand and put them ahead of himself so they would impact the beast first. Naruto pushed the little chakra he had left into the blades, trying to make them stronger.

Naruto hit the beast and his kunai cut into the abomination like a hot knife through butter. Naruto's arms buried up to his elbows in the beast chest. Naruto pushed himself out and stumbled away.

The rat heaved one more labored breathe before going completely still, its hit points completely drained.

Naruto sat back on his ass heavily breathing. "That-" he stopped, gasping for breath for a moment. "That was awesome."

"Right, you're almost dead and you think that was awesome," said Shikamaru, sitting down next to Naruto, also exhausted.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Flowing chakra into your weapon to make them stronger, 'Chakra Nagashi' Lv 1 has been created.**

"What the hell was that thing?" demanded Ino. "Why the fuck would you fight it? Why the fuck did I stay and fight it?"

"That, Buta, was a Chakra Rat Abomination and a really nasty one," answered Sakura. "We fought it to get stronger. You stayed to fight because your team needed you to."

Ino frowned at Sakura momentarily. "You've fought it before?"

"Never one that strong," replied Sakura. "Shikamaru, you said it was stronger because there were more us? How is that possible?"

"It can naturally sense chakra," he answered. "The abominations eat the little ones to get stronger, the little ones try to eat us because we have chakra. We killed so many of the little ones the big guy sensed it."

"But again, why so big this time?"

"We killed more of the little ones than we ever have before, that's why."

Sakura frowned but decided to accept it for now.

Naruto sat quiet noticing that everyone there but him gained a level for all of that effort, hell Hinata gained two levels. While he sat at 95.66% of his level. A measly 3.44% until level 19. It just wasn't fair. Granted he was quite a bit higher level wise than his companions but still it wasn't fair after all of that.

Naruto finally stood back up to inspect what the fat asshole dropped.

**6000 Ryo**

**[Iryo: Kaidokuzai no Jutsu] Skill Scroll**

Naruto picked up the scroll and tossed it to Sakura.

"What's this?" she asked confused.

"It must have eaten that scroll at some point. Isn't that an antidote jutsu?"

Sakura's eyes widened then looked again quickly at the scroll. "Oh my kami, it is."

"Anyone object to Sakura getting that after she was nice enough to share her antidotes with us?" asked Shikamaru.

"Why should forehead get it?" demanded Ino.

"Oh chill Buta, you can borrow once I've learn it," said Sakura, smiling happily.

"I'm fine with it," stuttered Hinata. "But I would also like to see it when you're done."

"Of course, Hinata," said Sakura, still smiling happily.

"Thank you," she replied softly, almost inaudibly.

"So, that leaves the rest of us with a thousand Ryo apiece," said Naruto, dolling out a stack of cash.

"That thing had money?" questioned Ino loudly.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sakura all shrug.

"Must have eaten someone with it at some point," said Naruto.

"Come to mama," said Ino, grabbing for the money.

Naruto held her share out to her and she greedily took it.

"Guess I'm getting those new shoes sooner than planned," she said to herself, happily counting the bills.

"Or you could spend the money on some better armor," groused Shikamaru, earning him a glare for his trouble.

"Okay, so who's up for a little hunting now?" asked Naruto, bouncing back to his feet, his HP and CP fully restored.

"How can you be ready for more after that?" asked Sakura in disbelief.

"That wasn't so bad," said Naruto. "If you want to see bad, you should check out training field 13 some time. That is bad."

"What's on field 13?" asked Ino.

"Spiders, chakra spiders to be exact and the queen spider is a real bitch too," said Naruto, shuttering for a moment.

"So where do you hunt? What do you hunt for that matter?" asked Sakura.

"Training field 12, we can get ham and mushrooms," answered Chouji, drooling slightly. "Ham . . ." he drawled out in a long, desirous voice.

Ino twitched. "Ham . . . as in pigs?" she asked.

"Boars actually," said Naruto, standing a fair distance away from the platinum blonde.

"I see," said Ino.

Sakura though giggled a little. Then she laughed outright.

Ino, stood stiffly then walked away from the field, trying to maintain even a little dignity and failing miserably when she tripped over divot in the ground.

"So, hunting?" asked Naruto, grinning happily.

"I'm done," said Shikamaru. "That was almost too much for today. I think I'm going to go cloud watching for the rest of today."

"Okay, Shika, see you," said Naruto cheerfully.

"I'm out too," said Chouji.

"I would but I really want to study this scroll," said Sakura, hugging her new technique scroll.

"How about you, Hinata?" asked Naruto, smiling in as friendly a manner as he could.

Hinata though turned bright red and fainted.

"Not again," groaned Naruto.

"I'll get her home," said Sakura, trying to withhold a giggle of amusement. "You go have fun hunting."

"Yeah, sure, I'll go keep myself busy elsewhere," said Naruto. He didn't really want to try hunting by himself, it just wasn't as fun and he didn't want to repeat any of the other fields so off to Ichiraku's it was.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto awoke feeling refreshed the next morning. While his peaceful relaxing weekend plan may have gone to crap, he was only too happy for all that he accomplished.

Bouncing out of bed, he started off his morning as usual, hygiene and breakfast followed by his daily quests, something he rushed through to get done to make it to his team meeting on time.

The team met at their usual spot on one of the small bridges not too far from the Hokage's tower.

Sasuke was sharpening the blade of his sword. Sakura was buried in a medical text with the scroll she got the previous day sitting next to her, partially unraveled.

"Yo," greeted Naruto, mimicking Kakashi's normal greeting.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, barely glancing at him.

"Morning, Naruto," greeted Sakura, also barely looking at him. She was really into her text.

Naruto sat down with his teammates to wait on their sensei. The man arrived within a few minutes so it wasn't a very long wait.

"Yo," greeted Kakashi, causing Naruto to giggle a little while the other two just rolled their eyes. "Anyway, let's go get a mission."

Naruto followed along, a bored look on his face. These D-Rank mission were pure monotony. Today they ended up chopping fire wood for a farmer on the outskirts of town. The only major upside was Naruto gaining a level at the end of the mission.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto ended up smiling the rest of the day after that, regardless of Sasuke dominating him in their taijutsu spar yet again. The guy was fast as hell and seemed to be able to counter anything Naruto threw at him. However, when Naruto did manage to hit him it was totally worth the pain he suffered to make it happen.

After they all sparred for a while it was back to tree climbing. A standard routine, even after just two weeks as a team. It was long and exhausting and very uninteresting. Still, it gave Naruto the time he needed to improve all his skills.

Naruto returned to the academy training field after the day's team activities ended. He had bonus points to earn. It didn't actually take very long to achieve the points either, he'd really got the hang of it by now. But that left him looking at his stats again. He had way more dexterity than strength and with the way Sasuke was able to speed around him he needed to increase his speed and to do that he needed to balance his strength some with his dexterity. With that in mind, Naruto dumped all seven points he had left over into his strength.

Having plenty of daylight left to burn, Naruto stopped in at Higurashi's.

"Hello, Naruto," greeted Hiten, seeing Naruto enter his shop.

"What's up, old man?" returned Naruto, smiling at the old man.

"Same old, what can I do for you today?"

"Just browsing, got done early today so . . . here I am," answered Naruto, shrugging.

"You ever make any storage scrolls with those supplies you bought?"

"Not yet, why?"

"Well, if you ever have any to spare, I'll buy them from you if they are good enough. My last supplier of storage scrolls died in a fuinjutsu accident and none of my other suppliers can keep up with the demand."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. He was suddenly very thankful for his gamer skill making accidents like that nearly impossible. "So, how much are we talking about here?"

"500 Ryo per grade 1 scroll, more for the higher grade stuff."

"Done," said Naruto. "I'll make some up for you, no problem."

"Great," replied Hiten. "Now, anything else I can get you?"

"More supplies then. I'll take one hundred blank scrolls and fifty bottles of ink," said Naruto.

"That's a lot of scrolls," said Hiten.

"So, I'll use them all," said Naruto, still grinning.

"I'll be right back then," said Hiten. The man moved into the back of his shop.

Naruto could hear the sound of boxes being moved and shifted from the back room. He took a little time to explore some of the weapons on display. They were all very nice but not really his style. He also noted none of them were made with chakra conductive metal according to his observe skill.

"Here you go brat," said Hiten, setting two large boxes on the counter.

"Hey, I noticed you don't have any charka conductive weapons out here, do you have them somewhere else?"

"Yep," answered Hiten, suddenly cold to Naruto.

"Can I see them?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I like you kid, but I don't like you that much. Those weapons are extremely expensive and even more valuable, maybe if you prove yourself a bit more, someday I might consider letting you take a look at the reserve stock. Understood?"

Naruto nodded. That had to mean he needed to be at a higher reputation with the shop than he currently was.

Naruto then stacked his two boxes and carried them home. Once home he sat down and started making [Storage Scroll Grade 1] in bulk. He had one hundred and forty blank scrolls to place fuin on and he'd be damned if he didn't get it done.

What Naruto didn't expect was for it to take fifteen minutes to make just one scroll. After three hours he had made only twelve scrolls and it was already past midnight.

"Okay, so this might take a few days," groused Naruto. Stepping away from the table he was using to write the fuinjutsu on. He yawned and stretched before turning and heading to bed.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Another week in the books and a steadily growing stack of grade one storage scrolls covered Naruto's kitchen table. The good news was that he was almost done, one hundred and forty scrolls. The bad news, he'd been so focused on it that he'd forgone most of his other training. Still, it was worth a lot of money.

If Naruto pushed he would finish them all today, today being Sunday. So after a shower and a quick breakfast, Naruto sat at his table and pulled up one of his last twenty-two scrolls. It would take exactly eight hours to make them all. Even better it would be close to enough to gain level twenty in [Fuinjutsu].

"Okay, let's do this," said Naruto, starting his first scroll of the day.

Hours later Naruto finished scroll number seventeen when he received a system announcement.

**Through hard work and diligence your [Fuinjutsu] Professional Skill's level has increased by 1.**

**Learned recipe 'Discovery'.**

**[Discovery] can be used once every three days to create a new fuinjutsu recipe within your ability level.**

Naruto grinned. He couldn't help it, this was awesome. He opened his skills menu to review it when he saw something that made him frown. He'd level capped [Fuinjutsu]. Then it occurred to him that it must have been the beginner level he'd capped and now he needs the intermediate.

**[Fuinjutsu (Active) LvMax CP: 20]**

** A professional skill allowing you to create seals that can be used to improve your gear, make explosives or just seal stuff away for later.**

Naruto's frown only lasted a moment before deciding to finish the last few scrolls and sell them before paying a visit to the really old man, some people would call Hokage.

"70000 Ryo, here I come baby," cheered Naruto, stacking all the now completed scrolls into two large boxes.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV19** Next Level: **36.12%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **2830/2830

**CP: **2619/2619

**STR: **44 (21.40) = 65.40

**VIT: **40 (53.00) = 83.00

**DEX: **51 (27.20) = 78.20

**INT: **55 (16.88) = 71.88

**WIS: **41 (12.51) = 53.51

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **112 (28.00) = 140.00

**SPD: **10 (43.70) = 53.70

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster** (-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **86500

**Name: **Uchiha Sasuke

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV19** Next Level: **88.11%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **720/720

**CP: **740/740

**STR:** 47

**VIT:** 72

**DEX: **89

**INT: **74

**WIS:** 46

**LUK: **1

**Status: Unawakened Sharingan **(+2 DEX &amp; +3 INT &amp; +1 WIS per Level**), Avenger **(+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi), **Firebug **(-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10 damage to katon jutsu)

**Uchiha Sasuke is the last loyal surviving member of the infamous Uchiha clan. Well known for their doujutsu the Sharingan which has allowed them to excel as shinobi in the field. His past is clouded by the pain and misery of losing his family so much that vengeance is all that remains to him.**

**Name: **Haruno Sakura

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV14** Next Level: ** 1.01%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **410/410

**CP: **338/338

**STR: **20

**VIT: **45

**DEX: **30

**INT: **140

**WIS: **205

**LUK: **8

**Status: Perfect Control **(+15 WIS per level, -50% cost to all jutsu), **Fangirl** (-25% decrease to experience gain, -50% decrease to bonus stat gain),** Book Smart **(+10 INT per level, -75% CP, +25% increase to skill experience)

**Haruno Sakura is the smartest student in class. Though very intelligent she is not very physically gifted. She pines after Uchiha Sasuke and is bitter rivals with Yamanaka Ino for 'Sasuke-kun's affections.**


	15. Chapter 15

A/N1: Let me start with a really big thank you to Fandom Flux Podcast and especially Kenchi618 for mentioning this fanfic. It is appreciated and I feel honored to have made the cut. Thank you!

A/N2: As promised I have been putting Naruto's end of chapter stats and usually something random, other characters stats, skill improvement, etc. I occasionally listen to requests from reviewers that want to know about a specific stat or character stat or whatever. If you don't want to read the stats then don't read the stats but stop complaining, stats are a key part of this game, of most games in fact. They will continue to be an integral part of this story and I will do my best to make sure they are mathematically accurate (thank you Excel). That said, thank you all for the reviews (over 1k in less than a month) and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.

A/N3: Last one I promise. There have been lots of questions about Kage Bunshin, it levels but never seems to improve. A lot of people missed the small buff it gained at level ten where each Kage Bunshin now had a 1% chance of surviving a direct hit. Now, that's not all I have planned for Kage Bunshin so have a little faith and enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

In the three months that had passed since graduating from the academy, Naruto had done little else but train his ass off and do the missions assigned. And somewhere in all of that he also improved his life skills, fuinjutsu, and reputation building daily quests. It left him quite a bit better off for money and best of all . . .

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV21** Next Level: **76.55%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **3390/3390

**CP: **2841/2841

**STR: **53 (30.30) = 83.30

**VIT: **45 (84.00) = 129.00

**DEX: **53 (35.60) = 88.60

**INT: **57 (17.13) = 84.13

**WIS: **43 (16.56) = 59.56

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **137 (34.25) = 171.25

**SPD: **10 (62.65) = 72.65

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **344000

Still, Sasuke had him by a level still but they were so closely matched now it was amazing. Even if Sasuke was still faster and more skilled in taijutsu. Their taijutsu only spars were becoming closer and closer things to watch. Sadly, Sasuke had also picked up a lot more ninjutsu along the way, not from Kakashi.

Of course not from Kakashi, that guy was a prick about teaching them new stuff. In the three months they had been a team he had worked on their taijutsu, taught them tree climbing, and team tactics. That's it. No other chakra control exercises, no elemental affinity training, no ninjutsu. Add to that the daily bull shit D-Rank mission and you had three very unhappy genin.

Well, mostly Naruto and Sasuke were unhappy. Sakura was just fine with it because it gave her the chance to learn some more iryojutsu, apparently the hospital just about gave scrolls away to any shinobi that asked for them, up to a certain level anyway. Speaking of levels, she had gained four levels in the last two months and was now proudly sitting at level eighteen.

So, once again Naruto and his teammates were standing in the Hokage's office, collecting a mission when something finally snapped in Naruto.

"That's it, no more!" he all but shouted.

"What seems to be the problem, Naruto-kun?" asked the old man, happily sitting in his throne-like chair.

"I can't take any more of these," pleaded Naruto. "Please, just put me out of my misery and give us a C-Rank, just one."

"Well, I'm surprised it took you so long to demand such a mission," said the old man, barely stifling a chuckle.

"I held out as long as I could but I can't do it anymore," said Naruto. "So what do you say?"

"And do you really think your team is ready for this?" asked Sarutobi.

"Hell yeah," said Naruto.

"Kakashi?"

"Mah, I guess they could do with a bit of a challenge," said Kakashi.

"Well then, I suppose we can give you a C-Rank," said Sarutobi, picking one off the large stack of scrolls next to him. "One C-Rank mission for Team Seven it is then."

"So what is it?" demanded Naruto. "Clearing out a bandit army, saving a princess, or maybe overthrowing a corrupt business man who is strangling the economy of a poor nation for his own gain?"

"You will be protecting a certain individual," said the old man, laughing lightly at Naruto's conjecture.

"So who is it?"

In walked an old man, a red glow to his face, he stumbled slightly and hiccupped once, a jug of alcohol shook and sloshed from a string wrapped around his wrist.

"Meet Tazuna, he's a bridge builder," said Sarutobi, introducing the man. "You'll protect him on his trip back to wave and protect him until he completes construction on his bridge."

"Protect him from what?" asked Sakura.

"Maybe himself?" asked Naruto, earning a small giggle from Sakura and smirk from Sasuke.

"Are you sure these brats can protect me?" asked Tazuna.

"They are capable but even if things get out of hand I'll be there to step in," reassured Kakashi.

"Well, I expect you to do a super job," he said, taking a long pull from his sake jug.

"We leave first thing in the morning. Get some rest and be ready to go at first light," said Kakashi. "We'll meet at the south gate." He then vanished a moment later.

The three kids frowned.

"I'm going to drink, you kids better be super ready," slurred Tazuna, turning and stumbling away.

**Quest Alert: C-Rank Mission . . . as if.**

**Protect Tazuna through the process of completing his bridge.**

**Objectives:**

**Escort Tazuna safely to Nami no Kuni.**

**Escort Tazuna safely through Nami no Kuni to his home.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp per Bonus Objective.**

**50000 Exp upon completion of all Objectives.**

**100000 Ryo upon completion of all Objectives.**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Increase reputation with Nami**

**Completion Failure: Possible Death and Dismemberment. Major loss of reputation. **

"Oh fuck," said Naruto. It was another quest the game wouldn't let him decline and based on the objectives and the amount of experience and money this was going to be another cluster fuck.

"Go on, you three," ordered the Hokage, rotating his chair away from them to look out his window.

Naruto was not happy about this. This was not good at all. These kinds of quests usually ended up with him getting into really deep shit. It was worse in fact when Naruto tried to re-enter the office only for some invisible force preventing him from entering.

"You guys want to hit up a training field?" asked Naruto, it was a desperate attempt. While he'd never had the opportunity to invite his whole team to a training field before, never really wanted to for that matter, but given they had plenty of extra time and this mission was bound to go to shit if that quest was any indicator.

"I'm game," said Sakura, before turning and looking hopefully at Sasuke.

Sasuke stared the two down, clearly debating with himself whether or not he should go along. Finally he growled. "What's so special about going to a training field?"

"Chakra mutations," answered Naruto. "They are tough and mean and dangerous and really fun to kill, you can even work out your anger and aggression."

"Fine, but this better not be a waste of my time."

Naruto grinned.

Sakura cheered.

"Where are we going?" asked Sasuke, crossing his arms defensively. He tried to make it clear he was just trying to pacify his teammates but Naruto could see that the young prodigy's interest was piqued.

"I'm thinking field 18," said Naruto. It was likely that the recommended level for field 18 was between fifteen and seventeen. They easily fit that with their current levels plus it would give them all one more chance to level up before their mission, something that may mean the difference between life and death.

"What's on field 18?" asked Sakura.

"Don't know, never been there," said Naruto. "But that's the point. Tomorrow we're going into the unknown on our first C-Rank, anything can happen. I figure going to a field we've never been to before would be good for us."

Sakura looked doubtful for a moment before finally nodding her agreement. "Okay, let's try it but if it gets bad, we're leaving."

"Of course," said Naruto, trying to reassure the girl.

"Just don't get in my way," said Sasuke, abruptly turning and walking away from his teammates leaving them to catch up to him.

"So where is field eighteen?" asked Sakura.

"Near the power station," answered Naruto. The boy had chosen to smartly buy a map of the village and more specifically the training grounds, only available to shinobi of course. The mapping seal he made wasn't nearly as detailed and mostly just mapped where he'd gone.

That was one more thing Naruto had managed during the last two months. He'd improved his [Fuinjutsu] quite a bit, even discovering the mapping seal he applied to the goggles he once again wore only this time he actually used them . . . well, used them sometimes. Mostly they just hung around his neck but whenever he needed to use them to they were easy to slide up and on. The map was very basic, it only gave him a compass bearing and map to an area within maybe hundred meters. They didn't tell him were stuff was, they didn't tell him were people were, friendly or enemy. They didn't even show quest objectives. It was kind of lame, truth be told but still, they had a few useful moments.

So Naruto guided his team to the training field, his mind trying not to think on the quest alert that had come not too long ago.

**Training Field 18 – **This thick and foggy forested area is located near the Konoha Power Station. It is also home to several wild wolf packs that deter many enemies from trying to attack said power station. Recommended Level: 17.

"Wolves," said Naruto, landing on a tree branch at near the entrance to the field.

"How can you tell?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto panicked for about a second before he heard a howl and smirked.

"Hn."

"Okay, so here's the plan," started Naruto, hoping Sasuke would follow along. "I'll be keeping most of the wolves focused on me, they are likely to attack in groups and probably won't die very easily. Sasuke, I need you to kill the wolves as quickly as you can without drawing their attention from me. Sakura, can you help from range and patch us up as necessary between waves?"

"I've got it," said Sakura.

"Sasuke?" Naruto called to him, hoping for an affirmative response.

"Fine," he grunted. "Let's just get this over with."

Naruto pulled a pair of kunai and dropped to the forest floor. "Okay little puppies, it is dinner time, come and get a little Naruto. He's delicious!"

There were several howls following Naruto's taunt causing a feral grin to cross his visage.

The first wolf that attacked was a scout.

**Pack Scout Lvl 15**

**HP: 1250/1250 CP: 250/250**

**This young wolf is not yet mature enough to hunt with the pack and has been relegated to scouting for the hunting party. Don't let its youth fool you, this wolf has something to prove and a bite to back it up.**

"Awe, aren't you just the cutest little wolf scout?" Naruto babied the wolf, causing its eyes to turn red with anger. It charged forward, more than a little angry.

Naruto slid past the wolf's side slicing it on the snout and earning more of its ire.

The wolf turned and snarled at Naruto, snapping its jaws several times before charging again. This time Naruto slammed the ring of the kunai into the wolf's forehead dazing it some.

"Now, Sasuke," called Naruto, jumping back from the wolf.

It only took another moment for the wolf to become barbequed into a black briquette.

"That it?" asked Sasuke.

The loud cacophony of howls that followed his question was all the answer he needed.

Naruto couldn't help responding. "Not even close."

Sasuke even grinned at that.

"Here they come," said Sakura, standing slightly behind the pair.

**Pack Hunter Lvl 19**

**HP: 2500/2500 CP: 750/750**

**This adult is mean and vicious and will happily tear you limb from limb then eat you only to feed the leftovers to his kin. Beware both his bite and claws as both are quite effective weapons.**

Naruto swallowed nervously seeing six of the wolves appear at once, all of them between level 18 and 20. This was the first time Naruto thought he may have bit off more than he can chew.

Naruto slapped himself once, casting off any doubts. "Alright you ugly bastards, let's party." Naruto threw the two kunai he had in hand then two quick hand seals later those two became two hundred killing all but two of the wolves but leaving them on their last legs, one of them quite literally.

"Finish them," ordered Naruto, an order that Sasuke was only too happy to comply with.

"This isn't that bad," said Sakura, who only moments later had to dodge a bolt of lightning.

"You had to jinx it," grumbled Naruto, searching for the target.

**Electric Enhanced Pack Wolf Lvl 22**

**HP: 3000/3000 CP: 1450/1500**

**The expression don't play with fire may mean something to humans but chewing on electric cables is just a normal pastime for the wolves of this forest. This one apparently enjoyed it a bit too much.**

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," groaned Naruto, stepping back defensively.

"What the hell is that thing?" demanded Sakura, watching a little electrical light shows dance along the beasts fur randomly.

"A challenge," said Sasuke, actually grinning excitedly.

"Stick to the plan," said Naruto, hoping that his teammate would. Sadly, it was not to be so.

Sasuke charged ahead, throwing several shuriken and kunai at the wolf, not even slowing down as he went.

The wolf easily dodged the incoming metal and began its own charge toward Sasuke.

Sasuke grinned as he dodged an electric swipe from the wolf. He then stabbed it in the shoulder causing some significant damage but taking a severe shock in return.

Naruto leapt in and pulled Sasuke off the wolf before he ended up dead. A dozen of his clones then started attacking, one would run in and slice at it only to run back out or dispel from a shock that passed through the kunai.

Sasuke shook his head a few times, he felt shaky after that shock from the wolf.

"I think we need to stay at range on this thing. My clones can keep its attention, we just need to put out a lot of damage on it as fast as possible," said Naruto, watching his clones attacking the wolf carefully.

"Explosives?" asked Sakura.

"Probably," said Naruto, pulling out a small stack of explosive tags and handing some to both Sakura and Sasuke.

Sasuke took them, taking one right away and wrapping it around the handle of one of his kunai. He then lobbed it so it landed near the wolf only to detonate a moment later, shattering the kunai into fragments of shrapnel damaging the wolf and killing several of Naruto's clones.

"That works," said Sasuke, preparing another kunai.

"It wastes clones but I'm honestly okay with that if we can take this bastard down," said Naruto, preparing his own kunai the same as Sasuke while Sakura did the same.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all threw their kunai together, Naruto's landing behind it and Sakura's landing just to the side. Sasuke's hit the hind quarter of the wolf and stuck.

The explosion that followed was messy and loud and left very little of the wolf behind.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Kunai are great. Explosives are even better. Put them together and you've made something wonderful. 'Shrapnel Kunai' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Shrapnel Kunai (Active) Lv1 0.00% CP: 15]**

By combining Kunai with Kibaku Fuda you have created a damaging area of effect attack that burns, cuts, pierces, and tears. Explosive damage 50-100 plus chance to cause Bleed effect. Bleed damage 5-15 per 5 seconds.

"Awesome, you know, that was pretty kick ass," complimented Naruto, walking up to the remains of the rapidly decomposing wolf.

"Hn," he grunted.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Then he spotted a messy looking scroll left by the wolf but no other loot.

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] Skill Scroll**

Neither of his teammates had noticed it sitting there and part of him was really greedy to pick it up and learn it before either of them saw it. But if he was caught it would not end well for him at all.

"It had a scroll on it," said Naruto, picking it up and showing his teammates.

"Really?" asked Sakura. "What is it?"

"A raiton technique, must have eaten one of the power station employees that had this on them," he explained, hoping Sasuke wouldn't pay it any mind.

"What's it do?" asked Sasuke, focused on the scroll.

"Don't know," said Naruto.

"Well open it and find out," said Sakura, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Naruto untied the string that held the scroll closed and opened it to read. "Let's see. It is a raiton technique used for self-recovery. Apparently you can use it to increase your chakra regeneration by stimulating parts of your core but doing so also damages your body."

"Give it to me," said Sasuke.

"Hey, now, I want to learn it too," said Sakura. "I can maybe use it for healing."

"And I can use it with all the chakra I burn protecting you two," argued Naruto. He knew that something like this would eventually happen.

"So how do we settle this?" asked Sakura.

Naruto frowned, there had to be a fair way to settle a loot dispute. "We could do rock-paper-scissors?"

"We could fight for it," suggested Sasuke.

"Draw straws?"

"Roll dice?"

"Kill points, most kills gets the scroll."

"Finders keeper," said Naruto, trying to put an end to it.

"Fine, we'll play rock-paper-scissors," said Sasuke, finding it to be the best chance for a fair distribution.

"Right then, on three," said Naruto, holding a closed fist on top of an open hand, a stance that was quickly mirrored by Sakura and Sasuke.

"One-two-three shoot," they all said at once.

"Yatta!" shouted Naruto, he had rock to both of their scissors.

"Che, it wasn't even that good of a technique," said Sasuke, turning his back and walking away. He froze a moment later when another set of howls broke the silence of the afternoon.

"This isn't over yet," said Naruto, putting the scroll away to learn later. He then pulled another pair of kunai and prepared to fight.

Sasuke jumped back to the group as soon as he heard the howl, also arming himself with his chokuto.

"I thought that was too easy," whined Sakura, also arming herself.

After waiting a bit no wolves came. It made Naruto think this wasn't like the other fields he ran normally where the mobs came to them. This was more like training field thirteen. They would have to actually search out the wolves

"I think we have to go to them," said Naruto, walking deeper into the training field area.

Sasuke nodded and followed not too far behind with Sakura following last.

It was exactly as Naruto suspected, as they traveled deeper into the field, more small packs of wolves showed up and of several varieties. It was kind of awesome in Naruto's opinion even if they were trying to kill him and his team.

After about an hour of killing their way through the field they found an entrance to a cave.

"What's in there?" asked Sakura, the expression on her face clearly said she really didn't want to find out.

"Pack leader most likely," said Sasuke.

Naruto and Sakura had both noticed that Sasuke was much more relaxed than he usually was. He was even somewhat friendly. The only question was how long would it last?

Naruto approached the entrance carefully, it was dark inside the cave, almost pitch black. It was suddenly interrupted by a spark of electricity before going black again. After another moment there was another spark. Naruto watched for a full minute to try and figure out what was causing the spark. Finally he saw the exposed electrical wires dangling from the ceiling.

"Sasuke, can you make us some torches?" asked Naruto. He knew that having one hand occupied with a torch was not going to be very advantageous in a fight but it would be a necessary evil in this case.

"Yeah," he answered, quickly grabbing a few thicker branches and wrapping one end of them with some of Sakura's medical bandage before blowing a small breath of fire on one before handing one to each of them.

Naruto took the offered torch in one hand and kunai in the other before entering the cave. The cave was maybe two meters tall and five or six meters wide so the trio fit easily enough but they wouldn't be jumping around much. The cave floor was mostly smooth yet littered with animal bones and even the occasional human skull.

The first twenty meters in was fairly straight before veering sharply left and down. It was fortunately not much of a maze so much as just winding and twisting.

They fought a hand full of 'Electric Pack Wolves', a weaker version of the electric wolf they fought earlier. Other than that the den was fairly empty and quite.

When they came to an area where the cave began to widen they heard the first rumbling of something much bigger. The cave widened out to a large cavern and laying in the center of it was a very large, white wolf.

**Shiro Okami Lv 25**

**HP: 4000/4000 CP: 1800/1800**

**The 'White Wolf' is a beast of legend, said to be a servant of the great Okami Amaterasu. This beast is both cunning and powerful, a dangerous foe indeed. She will protect her territory even at the cost of her own life.**

"Fuck," said Naruto succinctly. There really wasn't much else to say about it.

"Any ideas?" asked Sakura, shaking slightly at the sight of it.

"Don't die," suggested Naruto.

"She's sleeping, we need to sneak around her and place the torches on the ground to give us light to fight with," stated Sasuke. "Then we can get at least one free shot on her before she wakes. It will have to be fast and precise to do maximum damage."

Naruto and Sakura nodded and began trying to sneak left and right respectively around the sleeping beast. Once they formed a reasonable triangle around the beast they placed their torches. Naruto was able to prop his up with some rocks to give a little extra light.

Naruto looked at the way the wolf was lying, trying to figure out the best way to attack it and was coming up short. He didn't know how it would attack, what kind of attacks it used or just how fast and powerful it may have been. I was not a good situation.

Naruto then tried to take stock of their surroundings, the ceiling was a quite a bit higher than in the rest of the tunnel, it gave them space to maneuver. It also gave the wolf room to move. The ceiling itself was covered in stalactites, very sharp deadly looking stalactites that would make standing on the ceiling and attacking from range very difficult. On the other hand it did give him a wicked idea.

Naruto pulled an explosive tag and wrapped it around the handle of his kunai which he then hurled with as much strength and power as he could muster. The kunai struck true, burying itself an inch into the stalactites directly above the sleeping wolf.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with what Naruto could only guess was approval, he then held out a hand showing three fingers.

Naruto nodded and watched as Sasuke closed one finger at a time, when he had a fist Naruto charged his chakra into the note triggering an explosion.

Several stalactites fell like spears from heaven impaling the wolf several times over.

Naruto was shocked to see over ¾ of her health drop instantly.

When the last of the stalactites fell, Sasuke jumped in, driving his chokuto into the chest of the wolf, pinning it to the ground. He then did a few very fast hand seals and took a deep breath.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" he all but shouted as he spewed a massive fireball from his mouth into the wolf's face, killing it.

"That was stupid easy," said Naruto. He walked toward the wolf hoping to collect the loot when the wolf burst into a mist.

The mist moved by an unseen wind away from the stalactites that previously impaled it before coalescing once more, reforming the wolf.

**Shiro Okami Lv 25**

**HP: 3000/4000 CP: 1800/1800**

Naruto swallowed nervously, they had killed it but it reformed with only a quarter of her health gone.

"What the hell is this thing?" cried Sakura, jumping to Sasuke's side.

Naruto joined them seeing the wolf looking very angry but not moving, simply staring them down and with each breath she seemed to spew mist that covered the ground. It was strange to see the mist spread until it covered the entire area.

"What are we standing here for, kill it!" shouted Sasuke.

Naruto ran forward first throwing kunai and shuriken, trying to get her attention on him.

However, before Naruto could get to her, she opened her maw and shots several sparks of lightning into the mist at her feet.

Naruto and his teammates where instantly halted as several volts of electricity coursed through them, the mist creating a natural conductor.

It didn't do much damage but it did stun them allowing the wolf to charge Naruto and swipe him with her giant claw sending him tumbling end over end across the hard rocky ground, doing quite a bit of damage.

She gave chase to Naruto's tumbling form but was forced back when Sasuke fired another fireball at her, not hitting but changing her course.

It gave Naruto enough time to get back to his feet and prepare to defend himself against another attack.

"Sakura, I'll try to hold her in place, try to drop another stalactite on her. Just give me enough warning to jump clear," shouted Naruto, charging at her again, throwing kunai and shuriken once more.

This time Naruto was able to get to her and slice into her snout, pissing her off but keeping her in once place.

Sasuke saw the merit in Naruto's plan and attacked her legs, trying to immobilize her.

"Get clear, now!" shouted Sakura, activating an explosive note directly above the wolf.

Sasuke stabbed his chokuto through one of her paws and into the floor pinning her once again before jumping clear just in time to avoid the rain of deadly stalactites.

The attack worked, dropping her HP to zero one more time.

And again, she turned into mist moving away from the shinobi only to reform again.

**Shiro Okami Lv 25**

**HP: 2000/4000 CP: 1200/1600**

She glared at the trio again, mist began to form again.

"This time we need to jump when she electrifies the mist," said Sasuke.

Naruto nodded but he was already at work on trying to kill the bitch. He threw another kunai into the ceiling above her and activated it before she could set electricity flowing through the mist.

She was impaled once again killing her, despite the mist covering the ground still.

Naruto was unprepared for the amount of mist to increase filling the entire cavern top to bottom. He was less prepared for nearly being barbequed when electricity coursed through his entire body, not stunning him but hurting him badly. His hit points dropped dramatically.

"Shit, that didn't work so good," Naruto stuttered, wincing slightly as he said it.

"It was a good idea," said Sasuke. "We didn't know she would do that."

"Guys, I think I'm really hurt here," said Sakura softly.

Naruto looked over to her, her HP was flashing red as in almost dead. Naruto turned back to the wolf, feeling a rage flow through him like never before. This was supposed to be a good training exercise, not a near death experience.

**Shiro Okami Lv 25**

**HP: 1000/4000 CP: 600/1600**

"Sasuke, protect Sakura. This bitch is mine," said Naruto. He may have been completely calm mentally thanks to his gamer ability but emotionally it didn't change the fact that he was now really pissed off. He didn't notice his body steaming as his wounds healed. He didn't notice the slight red glow that began to encompass his being. All he saw was red.

Naruto vanished from sight only to reappear next to the wolf and punch her in the side of the head, causing her to fly into the cavern wall. Naruto vanished again, reappearing above her, his foot raised high as he dropped down slamming his heal into the top of her head.

The wolf bounced after impacting the ground, blood flying from her mouth.

Naruto spun in the air and delivered another kick, this time into the wolf's side. She sailed across the open cavern, bouncing a few times like a stone across the surface of a lake before impacting with the opposite wall.

Naruto vanished once more, reappearing above the wolf again, this time with two kunai in hand. He dropped on top of the wolf driving both kunai into her skull killing her. This time she oozed blood but did not change into mist.

Naruto huffed and puffed a few times before climbing off the corpse, the anger had vanished only to be replaced with exhaustion.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

"What was that?" asked Sasuke.

"What was what?' asked Naruto, honestly confused.

"That red glow? What was it?"

Naruto startled. "I was glowing?"

"You don't know?"

"No, I was just really angry that she hurt Sakura-chan and I got really angry," he answered honestly. But now that Sasuke said it, he did feel different for that last bit of the fight. The anger he felt was his but it seemed amplified. That made him instantly recognize it for what it was. He'd used Kyuubi's power, it was unintentional but there it was.

"You suspect though, don't you?" demanded Sasuke. "Tell me, I need power like that."

"I suspect, it's true, but I'm not completely sure. And if it's what I think it is, it's definitely not safe and I can't give it to anyone, it's not possible," answered Naruto.

"A kekai genkai?" asked Sasuke.

"Basically," answered Naruto. It wasn't exactly true but it was close enough. "Anyway, we need to get Sakura to the hospital. She's hurt pretty badly."

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, reverting to his usual arrogant self. He then turned and walked away, not bother to help or assist.

Naruto picked up the loot without checking it, just stashing it quickly in his inventory. He had to take care of Sakura now.

Naruto got her to the hospital and they were able to treat her for the electrical burns and minor nerve damage, thank kami for iryojutsu, gave them both a warning about playing with electricity and sent them on their way.

"That sucked," stated Sakura, more than a little annoyed.

"I'm sorry, again. I didn't know she would do that if her attack was interrupted," he said woefully.

"Again, it's okay, it's not your fault and none of us knew. Doesn't change the fact that it really sucked. I don't like getting electrocuted."

"Yeah, me either," said Naruto, his hand was still twitching slightly. "Before I forget, that bitch did drop some stuff."

"Really?" asked Sakura. "How is it these things carry this stuff? I can't imagine they eat enough people to collect that much crap. Come to think of it, if they did eat people with money why wouldn't their digestive tracks destroy it and how is it always in such nice clean stacks. There is something weird going on here."

"Really? You think?" asked Naruto, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I don't think it's that weird. We're shinobi right, weird shit is our business, isn't it?"

"You know something," she stated, it wasn't a question.

"Umm . . . oh wow, look at the time. We should go home to bed . . . we should go to our own homes to bed, not the same bed or home . . . right, I'm going to shut up now and go home."

"Hold it right there, Naruto," demanded Sakura, freezing Naruto in his steps. "You are going to explain this to me right now."

Naruto sighed in defeat. "There's no helping it is there?"

"Nope, none, now start talking," she demanded.

"Not here, it's too public," he replied, looking around the deserted street.

"Fine, let's go to your place and you can explain it there," she said, walking toward his apartment building.

"Fine," groaned Naruto, following after her, dragging his feet a bit, unable to stop the feeling of dread welling up inside. "This will not end well for me."

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV22** Next Level: **35.14%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **3490/3490

**CP: **2941/2941

**STR: **53 (30.30) = 83.30

**VIT: **45 (84.00) = 129.00

**DEX: **53 (35.60) = 88.60

**INT: **57 (17.13) = 74.13

**WIS: **48 (18.48) = 66.48

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **137 (34.25) = 171.25

**SPD: **10 (62.65) = 72.65

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster** (-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point:** 0

**Ryo: **356000

**[Fuinjutsu (Active) Lv22 Exp 15.00% CP: 20]**

A professional skill allowing you to create seals that can be used to improve your gear, make explosives or just seal stuff away for later.

**[Kibaku Fuda Grade 2] – **A low to mid quality explosive tag. Stats: 35-70 explosive damage, 7 meter explosive radius.

**[Discovery] **can be used once every three days to create a new fuinjutsu recipe you have not learned.

**[+50 DEF to Chest] – **Improve your gear by increasing the defense provided by 50 points.

**[+5 DEX to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the dexterity provided by 5 points.

**[+5 WIS to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the wisdom provided by 5 points.

**[+5 STR to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the strength provided by 5 points.

**[+5 DEX to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the dexterity provided by 5 points.

**[+5 STR to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the strength provided by 5 points.

**[+5 WIS to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the wisdom provided by 5 points.

**[+50 VIT to Legs] – **Improve your gear by increasing the vitality provide by 50 points.

**[+50 INT to Legs] – **Improve your gear by increasing the intelligence provide by 50 points.

**[+20 SPD &amp; +10 DEX to Feet] – **Improve your gear by increasing the speed provided by 20 points and dexterity by 10 points.

**[Mini-map Display to Face] – **Add a mini-map display to ocular protection. Creates a visual map to track your location and terrain surrounding you.

**[Weapon Seal to Hands] – **A seal capable of holding up to 50 kunai or 100 shuriken.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Yes, I'm still alive, no I have not abandoned this story, it's just been a couple of really crazy weeks, first I started a new job, then Diablo III came out on PS4 followed the next week by Madden 15 and then last week I ended up house/cat/dog sitting for my brother. Long story short, this is the first chance I've had to really sit down and start writing.

A/N2: So, I only shared a handful of Naruto's new seals last chapter, there obviously more but I don't want to overwhelm you all.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

"What?" she asked again.

So Naruto spilled his guts. She didn't believe him.

"My life has become a video game," he said yet again.

"What?"

"Gah!" Naruto shouted in exasperation. Clearly she didn't understand.

"I'm sorry, but that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. Why don't you try telling me the truth?"

"But it is the truth," he pleaded.

Sakura frowned. "Fine, then prove it."

Naruto gave pause at her challenge. There was no easy way to prove it to her. She couldn't see anything unless she was in a team with him. And with that thought he had his answer.

"Form team," he said aloud for her benefit. "Invite Haruno Sakura."

Sakura blinked owlishly when the blue box appeared before her eyes. "Kai," she said softly, trying to break a non-existent genjutsu.

Naruto couldn't help but smirk in triumph. "Tap the accept button."

Sakura gave Naruto a baleful look and reluctantly tapped the button.

Naruto pointed to above his head. "Do you see?"

"Uzumaki Naruto Lv 22, The Gamer," she read. "That still doesn't prove anything. This could just be a really elaborate genjutsu."

"Could be," said Naruto. "I've tried to break it many times and it's still here. Hell, even the Hokage believes it's real or at least believes that I believe it's real."

Sakura frowned.

"Besides, it's not that bad right? It gives me all kind of information and has helped me become a much better shinobi, right? So even if it is a genjutsu, why would I want it to stop?"

"And this gamey thing is why those fields act like that? Why there is a 'boss' monster that drops stuff?"

"Exactly . . . well I think so. Somehow this game can influence certain things around me, like the training grounds and some other weird shit," he tried to explain.

"So . . . what does it tell you exactly?"

"Why don't you see for yourself? Say 'status' to open your status window."

Sakura hesitated for a moment before saying it. "Status."

Sakura once again blinked owlishly.

**Name: **Haruno Sakura

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV19** Next Level: **1.20%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **580/580

**CP: **490/490

**STR: **23

**VIT: **58

**DEX: ** 34

**INT: **186

**WIS: **285

**LUK: 8**

**DEF: 32**

**SPD: 37**

**Status: Perfect Control **(+15 WIS per level, -50% cost to all jutsu),** Fangirl** (-25% decrease to experience gain, -50% decrease to bonus stat gain),** Book Smart **(+10 INT per level, -75% CP, +25% increase to skill experience).

**Haruno Sakura is the smartest student in class. Though very intelligent she is not very physically gifted. She pines after Uchiha Sasuke and is bitter rivals with Yamanaka Ino for 'Sasuke-kun's affections.**

Sakura studied the stats carefully, when she got to the 'Status' category her eyebrow twitched.

Naruto used observe on her to see what she was seeing, trying to figure out what caused the eyebrow twitch. He knew the second he got to her status effects.

"It's not me," he instantly protested.

In spite of his protests of innocence he still took a righteous punch to the head.

"Fangirl, really? That's how you see me? A Fangirl?"

"No, it's not me, it's the game," he protested, trying desperately to avoid further conflict.

"I am not a fan-"

"Yes, you are," Naruto said harshly, cutting her off then slapping his hands over his mouth. He couldn't quite believe he said the words himself or how he said them. It was beyond rude and possibly even a little cruel.

Sakura meanwhile looked like she'd just been slapped, her mouth hanging open, her shoulders slumped and her eyes looked a bit lifeless.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," Naruto apologized, looking down feeling ashamed.

"Am I really?" she asked piteously.

"Yeah," he replied softly, he hurt her but he knew he couldn't lie to her at this point. "You have so much potential but you're so obsessed with Sasuke you've neglected everything else, especially training. You've been better lately but you still go all Fangirl over any little thing Sasuke says or does. Today, when that wolf died and you were so badly hurt he just left. He completely ignored the fact that you were hurt and in danger of dying if you didn't get medical attention. I'm not saying your being a Fangirl caused that but when you woke up in the hospital the first words out of your mouth were about 'Sasuke-kun' taking care of you. Something that didn't happen."

Sakura once more looked on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry to say these things to you but you need to hear them. You need to change if you plan to survive this life. I don't know what else to say."

Sakura's spine stiffened suddenly and a fierce look of anger now filled her visage. Finally she huffed a few times before leaving wordlessly, nearly stomping out of his apartment and slamming the door behind her.

Naruto sighed after watching her leave. This was turning into a really long day despite it still being late afternoon. Naruto now had to make a decision about where to go next. He needed to be prepared for the mission coming up. And that had to start with checking what he grabbed from the wolf boss.

Naruto mentally opened his inventory to see what he'd grabbed. First he saw he was up 15000 ryo, he made a mental note to pay Sakura and Sasuke their share when he saw them the next morning. Then he saw the skill scroll he'd gotten earlier.

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] Skill Scroll**

He took it out and was prompted immediately.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto took a breath and held it for a moment before tapping the 'Confirm (Y)' button.

**You've obtained the skill 'Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu'.**

**You've obtained the skill 'Raiton Affinity'.**

**[Raiton Affinity (Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00]**

The ability to manipulate and control lightning style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Raiton effects 1%.

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp 0.00% HP: 5 per second]**

Manipulate raiton chakra to stimulate the production of chakra within your body.

Additional 1 CP per second regeneration while active.

Naruto smiled when he learned the technique and gained a lightning affinity for his trouble. The technique was costly too but probably worth it when it was all said and done, he'd have to wait and see how much it improves after leveling it a few times.

Then Naruto looked to see what else he looted.

**Shiro no Kiba (2) – Sharp fangs of the Shiro Okami. Crafting Material.**

**Shiro no Tsume (6) – Sharp claws of the Shiro Okami. Crafting Material.**

"More crafting materials," grumbled Naruto. He still hadn't found much use for these things. Still, it gave him the idea to head toward Higurashi's, maybe improve his gear some for the upcoming mission.

Naruto closed his inventory and headed out.

He took his time walking toward Higurashi's, there was no rush at this point. He'd already done all of his dailies that morning before meeting his team. Chouji and Shikamaru had both left on a C-Rank the day before, which was partially responsible for Naruto's demand of a C-Rank mission.

Naruto strolled casually into the shop and was surprised to see Sakura about to leave with a large box he recognized as the same genin kit he'd gotten from Higurashi months ago along with a few other bags.

Sakura just huffed at the sight of him and stormed past.

"Whatever you said to her, well done," said Tenten, leafing through a stack of ryo, counting it over and over again.

"Told her she was a 'Fangirl', she didn't take it very well," he answered, surprised to see Tenten manning the counter.

"No, she most definitely did not," said Tenten, smiling happily. "Still, good job. If I'd known I would have so taken her to task for it. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Figured I'd take a look around, my team is taking its first C-rank and I'm pretty certain things are going to go to shit so I'd better prepare as best as I can.

"I understand," she said, studying him. "Your gear looks pretty good though, or are you looking for something with a bit more defense."

"I figure it's time to move up to some medium armor. I know it's a bit heavier and will probably slow me down slightly but the extra defense should balance it out."

"Let me get my dad then, he'd probably know what's best for you," she replied, disappearing into the back a second later.

Naruto walked the aisles, picking up the occasional piece then putting it back and moving on. He wasn't really sure what he should be looking for but Hiten always knew.

"So you're back, brat," greeted the older man.

"You know it," replied Naruto, smiling for his friend.

"So, medium armor this time?" he asked.

Naruto just nodded once firmly. "With the way things have been going, I seem to always be protecting my teammates while they go kill happy. Some medium armor wouldn't hurt."

Hiten nodded and walked through the aisles toward the large rack of jackets, he leafed through the jackets before pulling out a crimson red long sleeve jacket and tossed it to Naruto.

Naruto caught the jacket, it was a bit heavier than his current jacket but most of that was probably from the sleeves his current jacket did not possess.

**Crimson Medium Body Armor – **A tough long-sleeve jacket covered in thick cloth and lined with medium chain mesh and leather. This armor provides decent protection from weapons, easily stopping most shuriken and senbon from causing significant damage. Requires Lv20. Stats: +75 DEF, +10 STR, +10 VIT, DUR 75/75.

Naruto frowned a bit at the loss of dexterity but the additional armor was worth it.

Meanwhile, Hiten moved to another rack, this one filled with pants, all black and shades of dark blue. He finally pulled a pair and tossed them at Naruto.

**Black Medium Leg Armor – **Tough long pants covered in thick cloth and lined with medium chain mesh and leather. This armor provides decent protection from weapons, easily stopping most shuriken and senbon from causing significant damage. Requires Lv20. Stats: +75 DEF, +15 STR, +20 VIT, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], DUR 75/75.

"That should work for you," said Hiten. "Anything else you might upgrade would be minimal without severely weighing you down.

"Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. I should probably stock up on some more fuinjutsu supplies, kunai and shuriken while I'm here. I lost a lot of weapons today in that training field."

"Not a problem," he replied, already on his way to the back room to get Naruto his supplies.

Naruto waited patiently by the counter for Hiten to return with his other supplies. It didn't take very long to get everything he'd asked for.

"I also got a bunch of stuff from one of the training fields, can you do anything with these?" Naruto asked, setting the claws and fangs on the counter.

"Wolves, were you training out by the power plant?"

"Yeah," he answered. "So, can you make anything with them?"

"Probably some daggers with the fangs. Maybe some claw weapons with the claws," mused Hiten, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Cool," said Naruto, then he had another thought given his extra time. "Think you could teach me to make them myself?"

"I suppose, but it takes real dedication. Learning it you may have to give up fuinjutsu. I won't have a part time apprentice," said Hiten.

**Would you like to replace [Fuinjutsu] skill with [Blacksmithing] skill?**

Naruto quickly declined, he wasn't going to give up [Fuinjutsu] after all the time and effort he'd put into learning it already. "Ah, I think its best I stick with [Fuinjutsu] for now."

"Suit yourself, now get out of here brat. I've a business to run."

"What about the claws and fangs?"

"Leave them and I'll see what I can make for you. Come back in a few weeks for the finished product."

"Cool, I'm leaving a C-Rank tomorrow but when I get back I'll stop by to see what you've made. See you later, Higurashi-san."

Shopping done, Naruto left the shop, quickly adding his stuff to his inventory.

With so much time still on his hands he headed for the academy training field intent on gaining the status points and working on his skills some before he called it a night. He gained his stat points in a couple hours before turning to his skills.

Naruto started out running up and down a tall tree at the edge of the field, until he was down about 200 CP. After that he used [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] for the first time. It was actually quite a strange feeling and it hurt like hell but did replenish his CP.

**[Raiton Affinity]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Raiton Affinity]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Raiton Affinity]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Raiton Affinity]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

Naruto took a moment to check what the level had done for him and he was definitely pleased. The chakra regeneration increased to five per second but there was no reduction in cost. His affinity boost increased to 5% also. It would do for now.

Naruto trained for another two hours before calling it a night. He had to refrain training his chakra regeneration technique once his HP dropped too low while he let it regenerate. Either way it was a successful night. Naruto had done everything he could to prepare for the mission to come.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto awoke as usual, wide awake and ready to get the day underway. After his morning routine and a nice breakfast he was out the door to meet up with his team at the south gate.

Naruto arrived a few minutes early. Sasuke was there waiting with a pack over his should. Sakura was also there waiting though she looked drastically different. She was wearing clothing similar to what Naruto had previously worn before his most recent upgrade of gear. Her black jacket had a dark red highlights similar to her old dress instead of the orange he used to wear. She did very much look like a serious shinobi now, it was somewhat impressive.

Naruto was about to compliment her when Kakashi suddenly appeared in a whirl of leaves.

"Good, you're all on time," said Kakashi.

"I hope you're all super ready," said Tazuna. He looked like he was nursing quite the hangover.

"Don't worry, if things turn badly I'll be here to protect you," offered Kakashi, trying to reassure the man.

The old man paled suddenly and stepped to the side of the road leading out of the village and vomited. It was very unpleasant both to hear and then to smell as the odor seemed to pupate despite being outdoors.

"Right, let's get a move on," ordered Kakashi, ignoring his client's plight and thanking kami for his mask.

Naruto couldn't help grinning as he stepped out of the gates even though he knew things were like to go quite badly very soon. He was finally getting out of the village.

**Discovery of the 'South Road' earns you 1000 Exp.**

**Having discovered there is a great big world outside of the village you've grown and prospered in, you now set out on the next part of your journey as a shinobi. 'World Map' function is now unlocked and accessible with the command 'World Map'.**

Naruto's grin grew little larger.

Every dozen or so kilometers or at a crossroads another window would pop up with a discovery message and a thousand experience.

"Okay team, let's make camp here," ordered Kakashi, as the evening sun had just begun to set.

The three genin quickly made camp, collecting firewood, putting up tents, and setting perimeter traps. Kakashi meanwhile did a quick sweep of the surrounding area coming back with a handful of rabbits.

Naruto watched as Kakashi prepared and cooked the rabbit, learning a recipe for a simple grilled rabbit in the process. It was actually fairly tasty too.

That night Naruto got to sleep first as he was given last watch. His tent protected him from the bugs and the sleeping bag was warm but the hard ground was not very comfortable. So he wasn't very surprised when he woke up to a message that was less than satisfying.

**You have slept in a tent and sleeping bag. HP &amp; CP are 50% restored.**

Now while it wasn't full, it was acceptable given that he was at full when he went to sleep that night anyway.

Naruto took his shift first thing in the morning, it was quiet thankfully.

Three days passed in this way, just travelling and camping. On the fourth day everything changed.

Naruto was on point with Sasuke flanked left and Sakura flanked right while Kakashi followed behind in the rear of the formation, the four points surrounding Tazuna. About a hundred meters ahead there was a puddle and hovering above that puddle where two names.

**Gozu Lv28**

**Meizu Lv28**

Naruto quirked his head to the side before he asked softly. "Are we expecting any shinobi to show up on this mission?"

"Nah, bandits at most," answered Kakashi, his nose still firmly in his book.

"Ah," said Naruto, reaching into his pouch for a pair of kunai and explosive tags. Naruto wrapped the tags around the two kunai drawing his teammates' attention. Both looked at him curiously.

Naruto pointed silently at the puddle then held up two fingers. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly but followed Naruto's lead preparing two kunai the same way. Sakura saw Sasuke mimicking Naruto and did the same.

Naruto counted down with his fingers and tossed the pair of kunai toward the puddle, an action Sakura and Sasuke both repeated. The boom that followed along with the body parts was loud and gory to say the least. One head and several unidentifiable body parts landed near the group, another almost whole body landed with a sickening thud some distance away. Gozu was in critical condition and quickly bleeding out from the missing arm and both legs.

**Bonus Objective Completed: Awarded 10000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: C-Rank Mission . . . as if.**

**Protect Tazuna through the process of completing his bridge.**

**Objectives:**

**Escort Tazuna safely to Nami no Kuni.**

**Escort Tazuna safely through Nami no Kuni to his home.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Ambush the ambushers, defeat Gozu and Meizu before they can spring their trap.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp per Bonus Objective.**

**50000 Exp upon completion of all Objectives.**

**100000 Ryo upon completion of all Objectives.**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Increase reputation with Nami**

"Well, that's one way of doing it but now we don't know what they want?" said Kakashi, putting his book away and walking toward the soon to be dead nukenin.

"Oh no, they found me," whispered Tazuna, not thinking about the shinobi surrounding him.

"So they were after you?" asked Naruto, having heard the old man clearly.

"So it would seem," said Kakashi, wiping a bloody kunai off on his pant leg and holstering it.

Naruto looked over to see the last nukenin's throat slashed for a quick death.

"Mind explaining why?" asked Kakashi, looking Tazuna straight in the eye.

"My country is poor, even poorer now because of Gato," started Tazuna fearfully. "He came to wave years ago, setting up his new business headquarters. He promised jobs and a new vitality to my people. He lied. It was subtle at first, buying up businesses along the waterfront, then smaller shippers, and then docks and warehouses until before we knew it he had squeezed every last one of us out of the water front. From there he began his real business, shipping in illegal narcotics from somewhere in Mizu no Kuni then ferrying them into Hi no Kuni and elsewhere. Me and my son-in-law thought to build a bridge, cut Gato out, he didn't like that but he couldn't stop it. We've been fighting to build the bridge but he keeps sending his thugs down to scare away my workers and he's been succeeding, finally we took up a collection, the entire wealth of my village went into paying for this mission but . . . I never thought he'd find out and hire shinobi to stop me."

"I see, then this mission is clearly mislabeled, we should turn back," said Kakashi.

Naruto knew that Kakashi was right but he knew too that he had to see this mission through. "We can't do that."

"What was that, Naruto? Are you countermanding my orders?"

"No, sensei. But we can do this. We can help him and save their country."

"Next will most likely be a jounin," he countered.

"You can take him," said Naruto confidently. "We can do this. You can fight the jounin and we can clean up any slack and protect Tazuna while we're at it."

"Do you two feel the same?" asked Kakashi, looking at Sasuke and Sakura.

Sasuke nodded once, it was the only answer he need to give.

Sakura looked a bit out of it after the shower of gore that happened just a few meters away. She took one shuddering breath before looking to him. "We can do it."

"Hmm, well, I can see when I'm out voted. But keep in mind, Tazuna-san, you will be billed the difference in mission cost with some very severe penalties," warned Kakashi.

"Thank you, thank you so much," said the old man, nearly in tears.

"Well, let's get moving again, I want to cross into Nami no Kuni tomorrow morning so we need to cover a little more ground today."

Naruto took point once again and began walking, the rest of his team and Tazuna falling in behind him as they went. He didn't notice Kakashi wasn't with them at first until he smelled meat cooking somewhere nearby. When he noticed Kakashi was missing only to appear a few minutes later it was apparent he'd stayed behind to burn the bodies.

**You have slept in a tent and sleeping bag. HP &amp; CP are 50% restored.**

As soon as Naruto stepped on the boat he received his next quest notice.

**Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp.**

Naruto was happy for that but they still had to reach Tazuna's home safely, something that may be extremely dangerous.

The boat ride over was quiet, Naruto even managed to refrain from yelling in awe at the bridge. He was too nervous about what might be waiting for them on the other side of the bridge, especially with the fog that seemed to linger everywhere.

Thankfully the ride was quiet the whole way, not even a rough wave. They walked through the village that felt deserted and given the fog it was understandable for people to stay inside, it certainly had an ominous feel to it.

Tazuna guided them through town toward a little dirt road that went along the coast toward his home. It seemed that as they walked the mist was getting thick until Naruto's [Observe] popped up.

**[Kirigakure no Jutsu] – **An elemental technique that creates a thick chakra laden mist to obscure the user.

Naruto swallowed thickly, trying to subtly arm himself with a pair of kunai, looking left and right trying to see through the mist. Then he caught brief sight of a name tag behind some nearby bushes that vanished before he could really read any more than the '?' for a level.

"Jounin," whispered Naruto, just loud enough for his team and Tazuna to hear.

Kakashi frowned behind his mask as the fog seemed to be thickening, become more of a mist.

"Protect Tazuna," he ordered before fading from sight.

Naruto saw brief flashes of a name tag in the mist of both his sensei and their attacker, they would clash suddenly with loud clangs of metal before separating just as quickly. Naruto wanted so badly to help but at the speed the two jounin were moving he knew he'd be more of a hindrance than a help at this point.

"What's going on?" asked Tazuna, finally finding his voice.

"Kakashi-sensei is fighting someone," answered Sakura, her voice quavering fearfully.

Naruto looked back at her to see her holding a kunai in front of herself, she was shaking but trying admirably to put on a brave face.

Naruto's decision to check on Sakura proved a boon as their attacker appeared suddenly in their midst. He was a tall man, taller than Kakashi, he held a huge cleaver sword in one hand that was already slicing through the air toward Tazuna.

Naruto reacted immediately stabbing the shirtless man with both kunai in between his ribs. Naruto was shocked at how quickly he'd reacted, he was even more surprised when the man burst into water soaking the genin and Tazuna alike.

It shook Naruto up a little but also woke him up, allowing him to turn back to watching the area around them for another sneak attack.

Tazuna meanwhile was clutching his chest like he was having a heart attack or maybe just a panic attack. The poor old man looked ready to pass out at any moment.

Naruto formed a handful of Kage Bunshin wordlessly, one instantly stood at his back to keep an eye on the person they were guarding while the other clones reinforced the genin perimeter, not that they would stop a jounin but if he killed one on the way to attacking, they would at least have a little warning.

Suddenly the mist cleared as a massive gust of wind blew it away allowing the genin to see properly what was going on.

**Momochi Zabuza Lv?**

Kakashi and Zabuza stood about three meters away from each other, neither moving, just studying the other, waiting for one of them to make a move.

Naruto swallowed thickly at the tension that seemed to permeate the air in place of the mist that previously obscured everything.

Zabuza moved first, blurring behind Kakashi, his giant sword swinging fast in an attempt to take off Kakashi's head.

Kakashi easily ducked under the swing and used the opening to kick the man in the ribs with as much power as he could muster.

Zabuza was forced back toward the coastline, his free arm holding his now bruised, possibly broken, ribs. "So, Sharingan no Kakashi, I heard you had a little talent, I'm glad to see it wasn't all talk."

"Momochi Zabuza, Kirigakure no Kijin," replied Kakashi. "I'm a little disappointed to be honest."

Zabuza frowned behind his bandaged mouth, clearly he didn't like Kakashi's reply. "Let's see if you're still disappointed when I kill you, your brats', and the old man."

"You're welcome to try but I can't guarantee you'll like the results," warned Kakashi.

"Humph, enough talk," said Zabuza, attacking again.

Kakashi and Zabuza danced a deadly waltz around each other, blades seeking blood and death. It was extreme and simply awesome to behold.

Zabuza took a wide swing again aiming for Kakashi's head again and again Kakashi ducked the swing but he was unprepared for Zabuza to use the blade to create momentum to spin into a heavy kick that sent Kakashi skipping across the watery coastline like a skipping stone.

Kakashi allowed himself to sink into the water a bit if for no other reason than to catch his breath. He was starting to run low on chakra and knew he'd have to end this soon or he'd be in real trouble. When he finally emerged from the water he knew something was wrong, the water was too heavy.

Zabuza was waiting for him to emerge from the water and when he did he was trapped in an orb of water in an instant. "And now you can watch as I slaughter your brats' and the old man before I kill you."

Naruto swallowed once nervously upon seeing his teacher trapped, this was a bad situation. It turned worse when three more Zabuza's formed from the water and walked onto solid ground.

"Now, which of you dies first?"

"All of you run," shouted Kakashi, from within his watery prison. "You have no chance of beating him. His clones can only follow you so far until they have to dispel and he can't move from here if he wants to keep me trapped."

"You assume I'll give them the chance to run," said Zabuza.

Naruto stood still, listening to what was said when Kakashi's words rang through his head. "What happened to those who abandon the mission are trash?" he asked softly. "Huh sensei? Or how about those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash?"

"Naruto, now is not-"

"This is exactly the time, I won't stand by and watch you die when there is the slightest chance I can do something about it," he nearly shouted. "Sasuke, think you can provide some range support?"

"Hn," he grunted.

"Sakura, protect Tazuna and provide a little range support if you can," Naruto added before he crossed his hands in front of himself in a familiar handseal. Instantly another dozen clones were created.

Naruto and his clones nodded, knowing the plan already.

The clones all attacked instantly, charging toward Zabuza's clones.

Naruto activated his [Chakra Sprint] and [Chakra Reinforcement] before giving Sasuke a subtle hand sign to target the left most mizu bunshin.

Naruto vanished in a blur appearing in front the targeted clone, swinging a pair of chakra laden kunai, something the Zabuza clone easily parried, knocking Naruto ass over end away from the giant man.

The clone burst into water a moment later, Naruto's diversion opened the clone for Sasuke to hit it with a small fireball, it was very subtle indeed.

Naruto rolled back up to his feet and charged again, throwing a hail of shuriken and kunai at the remaining clones hoping for a lucky shot but mostly just trying to separate them a bit. His [Buki no Arashi] separated them but killed two of his own clones, something that was running out fast as Zabuza's clones were lazily slaying them as if they were just annoying flies and not dangerous shinobi intent on killing him.

Naruto used the distraction to turn the air above the Zabuza clone black with a rain of kunai and shuriken. The Zabuza clone hunkered down behind his oversized blade and waited out the storm, when the last weapon pinged off his blade he moved to stand again only to have his head separated from his shoulders by a chokuto.

Sasuke saw his opening and attacked, destroying the clone with almost no effort while Naruto was already moving on to the last clone just as his own last clone perished in a puff of smoke.

"Heh, your brats aren't half bad," complimented Zabuza. "You brats should keep in mind, those clones are barely one-tenth of my strength."

Zabuza was so amused watching the fight he didn't notice the shadow below him until he had a slice running up his leg and then the back of his arm until it was too late. Naruto during the fight had switched with one of his clones in order to try and free his sensei from Zabuza's prison but the only way to approach the big man was from under the water the man was standing on. It required being sneaking, not his best ability but something he was adequate with, at least enough to sneak up on a distracted shinobi.

So Naruto felt quite proud of himself when he'd forced Zabuza to release his teacher, even injuring him a little. His pride was quickly extinguished when he was met bodily with the flat of Zabuza's blade sending him flying and colliding with the water clone dispersing it but also sending him on a collision course with Sasuke.

It was very unpleasant to say the least. It didn't matter much after that though, now that Kakashi was freed the fight quickly went in the Konoha shinobi's favor, especially since Zabuza had been hobbled by Naruto already.

Naruto was barely still conscious as the fight came to a close. In fact he was quite concussed and didn't really remember what happened or where he went after the fight ended, only that he was eventually laid down in a bed. The last thing he saw before falling asleep was a system message.

**Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: C-Rank Mission . . . as if.**

**Protect Tazuna through the process of completing his bridge.**

**Objectives:**

**Escort Tazuna safely to Nami no Kuni.**

**Escort Tazuna safely through Nami no Kuni to his home.**

**Train hard and prepare for the return of Zabuza.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Ambush the ambushers, defeat Gozu and Meizu before they can spring their trap.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp per Bonus Objective.**

**50000 Exp upon completion of all Objectives.**

**100000 Ryo upon completion of all Objectives.**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Increase reputation with Nami**

"That's nice," mumbled Naruto as sleep claimed him.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV22** Next Level: **58.12%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **3752/3752

**CP: **2941/2941

**STR: **54 (40.40) = 94.40

**VIT: **46 (109.20) = 115.20

**DEX: **54 (20.80) = 74.80

**INT: **57 (17.13) = 74.13

**WIS: **48 (18.48) = 66.48

**LUK:** ?

**DEF: **219 (55.50) = 273.75

**SPD: **10 (58.40) = 68.40

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill**), Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster** (-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point:** 0

**Ryo: **261000


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

"Zabuza's alive," Naruto shouted as he snapped up and wide awake.

"Oh, is that so? How did you come to that conclusion?" asked Kakashi, the man was propped up against the wall opposite Naruto. He was covered in blankets and looked a bit pale. Even with that, it didn't prevent the man from reading his favorite porn book.

"My quest updated," said Naruto, blinking away the last vestiges of sleep and closing the message.

**You've slept in a bed. HP &amp; CP are 75% restored.**

"Quest?" asked Kakashi, closing his book.

"Oh, now you're interested? Where was this interest when I tried to warn you and the old man days ago?"

"You couldn't warn me as we left the village?"

"By then it was too late and this game thing seemed determined to prevent me from telling you about it. It's totally fucked up," Naruto explained unhappily.

"I see. Hmm."

"So what did I miss?" asked Naruto.

"I have chakra exhaustion, you had a pretty severe concussion. You're just lucky he hit you with the flat of his blade or he'd have cleaved you clean in half."

Naruto swallowed thickly. "That bad, huh?"

"Probably, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Zabuza will be out of commission for a while. It will give me time to recover and train up you three a bit more. You'll have to deal with his accomplice, you and your teammates anyway. So prepare yourself mentally, if you thought I was tough on you before that will be nothing compared to what's coming."

"You've never been tough on us, how much worse could you possibly get?" asked Naruto flatly. "And you're still lazy."

"Really, when was the last time you check my status?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not since I first told you when the old man asked but it doesn't change the fact you're still lazy."

"Oh, is that so? Do me a favor and check my status again?"

Naruto frowned but observed the man anyway.

**Status: Sharingan **(+2 DEX &amp; +3 INT &amp; +1 WIS per Level),** Genius** (+10 WIS per level, +25% experience gain to all skills), **Perverted Sensei **(-25% effectiveness to teaching, -10% experience to teaching skills).

"Okay, you're not lazy despite what I thought but you're still the biggest pervert," protested Naruto, crossing his arms in defiance.

Kakashi sighed. "Fine, I'll try to work on that but at least I'm not lazy anymore right?"

"How does that even work? You've barely taught us anything."

"I don't have to teach you anything more than what you've already learned. I show up on time, make you all train. That's really all it takes to not be lazy."

"But the guidelines from the old man . . ."

"Mean nothing, they are a guideline to what you have to learn at some point in time from me. There is no timeline with them."

Naruto couldn't help frowning again. "So where are we anyway?"

"Tazuna's home."

"Where are Sasuke and Sakura?"

"Downstairs."

"Are they okay?"

"Yeah," he answered then reopened his book signaling an end to the conversation.

Naruto wanted to keep questioning the man but figuring he wouldn't get any further answers let it drop. Taking a deep cleansing breath first Naruto stood and left the room, his stomach demanded satisfaction.

In the kitchen, Naruto didn't find his teammates, only Tazuna drinking coffee at the kitchen table and a young woman doing dishes.

"Yo," Naruto greeted them in a Kakashi-esque manner.

"Oh, so you've finally woken up, feeling alright?" asked a surprisingly sober Tazuna.

"Yeah, I heal fast."

"You must be Naruto-kun, I'm Tsunami," the woman greeted him, drying her hands then walking over to greet him properly.

"Nice to meet you," Naruto replied, slightly unsure of himself or of how he was supposed to respond. Friendly and cordial was a mystery to him and honestly made him feel a bit suspicious of her ulterior motives.

"Are you hungry? We weren't sure if you were going to wake up today?"

"Sure . . . um, where are my teammates?"

"Sasuke-kun said something about training and Sakura-chan followed him," replied Tsunami, quickly returning to the kitchen and beginning to cook.

"What are you making?" asked Naruto, he'd recognized some of the things she was doing, specifically the scrambling of eggs but she had no idea why she was dicing vegetables or shredding some cheese.

"A veggie omelet," she replied, smiling happily as she continued cooking. "Have you ever had one?"

Naruto shook his head, watching her closely in an attempt to learn the recipe. An effort he succeeded in.

After eating, Naruto returned upstairs to see if his sensei needed anything. Seeing his sensei buried under several blankets and snoring gently, Naruto quietly pulled on his jacket and went out to train with his teammates if he could find them. Otherwise he was content to train on his own.

Naruto came across Sakura first, she was leaning against a tree, heaving deep breaths and dripping in sweat.

"Yo," he greeted her, not sure how she'd respond.

Sakura looked up and glared at him, like he was intruding.

"So, still mad, right. I'll just get out of your way."

Sakura sighed. "Wait."

Naruto paused in his turn, only to look back at her slight suspicious once again.

"I'm sorry I've been so cold to you," she said softly. "I don't like that you view me like that. I didn't want to believe it might be true. Then I met that Tenten girl at Higurashi's."

"I'm sorry I hurt your feelings back then," mumbled Naruto.

"So, are you better now?"

"Oh yeah, nothing can keep me down for long," said Naruto, boasting a bit. "Plus sleeping in a bed restores like 75% of my HP and CP. It's kind of badass."

"How does that work exactly? I mean, you can be knocked out and stuff right? Does that mean you have zero HP or something?"

"Zero is dead," answered Naruto. "I'm not quite sure how the knock out mechanic works exactly. I've been knocked out at almost half health but it was also a massive blow to the head so maybe it's like a status effect."

"Status effect? Like that 'Book Smart' thing I have."

"Kind of, it's more like being poisoned, it's only temporary."

"Ah, what else does it do? Your gamer thing?"

"Well, I can learn all kinds of skills and improve them by practicing them repeatedly. Like my [Kage Buki no Jutsu], when I first learned it, it cost me 10 CP per copy and now it only costs 5 CP and my AoE accuracy has increased by 15%."

"AoE?"

"Area of Effect," explained Naruto.

"That is so weird," she finally said after a moment of silence. "So, could I like improve my iryojutsu faster if I was teamed with you again?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure. I know that Shikamaru and Chouji abuse the shit out my gamer ability every chance they get."

"Shikamaru and Chouji know?"

"Yeah, they've become really good friends. We run training fields together all the time."

"What level are they?"

"Chouji was level 19 last time I saw him and Shikamaru was level 21. But they both might gain a level on the C-Rank mission they are on now."

"What level is Kakashi-sensei?"

"Don't know, all I see for him is question mark. It means his level is too high for me to read. Most genin I've run into are between level ten and twenty-five or so. Chuunin start around level twenty-five and go from there. I'd guess most jounin are around level forty or fifty."

"So if my experience gain is minus 25%, why am I the same level as Chouji? Should my level be lower?"

"Well, you have been working really hard lately and you do the same missions as me and Sasuke so you get plenty of experience. You'll probably be super overpowered once you get over that stupid 'Fangirl' thing."

"I can get over it?"

"Well, yeah, of course you can. Kakashi-sensei used to have a bunch of 'Lazy' remarks on his status and they are gone now."

"What? But he's the laziest guy I know other than Shikamaru."

"I know," said Naruto emphatically. "I don't get it either but it's true. He's not technically lazy. I even asked him about it and he said that it was because he was on time and made us train and do missions."

"That's all it took?"

"Apparently, talk about some bullshit," complained Naruto.

"So why am I still a 'Fangirl'?"

Naruto shrugged. "Don't know, you'll have to figure that out for yourself. If you ask me, you need to decide what's more important, 'Sasuke-kun' or being a shinobi but that's just what I think."

Sakura frowned. "Anyway, what are you going to do now?"

"Train. Train until I drop."

"Can I join you? Like in a team or party. I want to see what it can really do."

"Sure," said Naruto, wordlessly forming a team and inviting Sakura.

Sakura was slightly startled when the invite came wordlessly. "You don't have to say it out loud or anything?"

"Nope," grinned Naruto, enjoying Sakura's look of surprise.

"So now what?"

"Well, what do you want to improve?"

"Well, I could use some work on my Shosen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Healing)."

"Healing huh, well let me drain some CP first then I can use my [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] and you can heal me after that," offered Naruto.

"Okay," said Sakura, curious to how it would all work out.

"[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu]," said Naruto aloud, mostly for Sakura's benefit. He only formed one clone but it was enough to drain half his CP in an instant.

Sakura was startled when she saw half of Naruto's chakra vanish in an instant. "Wow, how much chakra does that use?"

"Half for the first clone and then it splits what it takes to form more clones after that."

"How much CP do you have?"

"I have 2941 when full," answered Naruto.

"Status," said Sakura, popping up her status window. "Why do you have so much?"

"It's kind of a bloodline thing," he replied, it was half true after all. He then sat down and wordlessly began using [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu]. It still hurt but now it was more of a stinging than actual pain. It took about three minutes to completely refill his CP.

"Okay, you're up," said Naruto, smiling at his teammate and almost friend.

Sakura stepped up behind the sitting Naruto and did a few hand seals causing her hands to glow green. She placed her hands on his back and suddenly stepped back after a second.

"What? What's wrong?" Naruto asked after only being healed a few ticks.

"It works. I didn't expect it to really work. I mean, it showed how much I healed you and how much Chakra I used per second healing you."

"Of course it worked. I told you it would."

Sakura shook herself of her surprise and went back to healing him. It didn't take long for her to heal him back to full but it drained a lot of her chakra points. When she finished, she sat down breathing heavily.

"Nice work," said Naruto, cheering for Sakura's success. "I wish I could heal myself but it doesn't quite work like that. I don't have the control for it."

"Can you teach me that chakra restoration ability?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know," said Naruto. "Maybe, want to try?"

"Sure," she said eagerly.

Naruto showed her the handseals and did his best to explain how the skill worked. It took a little time but eventually Sakura got the hang of it and was able to actually use it.

"Hey, I learned the skill. It even says I'm a natural raiton affinity," she cheered.

"Natural? Huh? What do you mean natural raiton affinity?"

"That's what it says. I have a natural raiton affinity."

**[Natural Raiton Affinity (Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00%]**

The ability to manipulate and control lightning style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Raiton effects 2%.

"So, your passive benefit to Raiton skills is 2% versus the 1% I gain per level. That's . . . kind of awesome."

Sakura couldn't help grinning to match Naruto's.

"So, give it try. Use the regeneration ability then try healing yourself. See how much it takes," suggested Naruto.

Sakura nodded once before sitting down and activating the ability only to jerk in shock. "Owe, that hurts."

"Yeah, it's not the most pleasant technique but it works."

Sakura nodded and resumed her efforts of restoring her chakra then healing herself.

"So, how's it work?"

"I can do this indefinitely," said Sakura. "It doesn't do enough damage that I can't heal myself right away."

"Awesome. Way to go Sakura-chan!"

"So I can do this forever, what will you do now?" she asked, pausing in her training.

"I am going to work on my tree climbing, once I drain my CP, I'll refill it and you can heal me again," said Naruto. He couldn't hold back the need to laugh diabolically at his genius planning.

**Your diabolical planning pays off, your WIS has increased by 1.**

Naruto laughed again, grinning like a fox that just escaped the hen house.

Naruto and Sakura returned to Tazuna's home later that afternoon to get some lunch, Tsunami had prepared some rice and fish that Tazuna had caught that day. Sasuke even showed up to eat though he chose to sit away from his team.

It was about halfway through lunch when Kakashi limped down the stairs to join them.

"Feeling better, sensei?" asked Sakura.

"A little," he replied tiredly. "Some food will do me good."

The meal was mostly quiet and when the table was cleared of empty dishes Kakashi address them again.

"So, Zabuza . . . he's probably still alive," he dropped that bomb very nonchalantly. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly but didn't react any further.

"What do you mean, sensei?" asked Sakura, a little quaver in her voice.

"Senbon are a very exacting weapon, used more often for capture than killing," he answered.

"So that Oinin was what? His accomplice?"

"Ah, probably," said Kakashi. "So we're going to start training. Zabuza will be out of the way for at least a week, two if we're lucky. It doesn't give me much time to train you but we should be able to manage a new skill or two. So, be ready in the morning, we don't have much time but we'll make the best of the time we do have."

Naruto nodded once firmly, giving Sakura a look and motioning with his head toward the door outside. It was time to get back to work.

**You've slept in a bed. HP &amp; CP are 75% restored.**

Naruto awoke quickly and earlier than he had the day before. He was ready to really work, he and Sakura had gotten into a really good pattern the day before and if they could manage the same today then they would be prepared when the inevitable fight happened.

After a quick breakfast, more rice and fish, the trio found themselves outside with Kakashi. The man had found crutches somewhere and as such was moving quite slowly as he lead them into the forest behind Tazuna's home.

"So what are you going to teach us?" asked Naruto eagerly.

Kakashi pulled out three scrolls from his pouch. "I wrote these up last night. They should help you out. I want you to work on them today and tomorrow we'll see about starting on the next step of chakra control." He then tossed one scroll to each of them.

Naruto caught his in one hand, looking at the message that accompanied it.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto wasn't sure what would happen if he tried to learn a technique from a different element. However, stone skin would be very beneficial for him as a 'shield' in his game life.

Naruto tapped the 'Decline (N)' until he could separate from his teammates, he didn't want any issues when the scroll went up in flames.

"Anyway, if you have questions or need any help I'll be here," said Kakashi, effectively dismissing the team.

Naruto and Sakura ended up walking away together so they could train together again.

"So what did you get?" asked Naruto as he and Sakura walked back to where they had trained the previous day.

Sakura fiddled with the string holding closed trying to open it. "Stupid string. . ."

Naruto chuckled, then wordlessly created a party and invited her.

Sakura absentmindedly tapped the accept button while she continued trying to open the scroll. Then she paused when a blue window appeared asking if she wanted to learn the scroll.

"So what is it?" asked Naruto.

"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu," she read from the window. "Can I really learn it this easy?"

"Yeah, just hit the button," said Naruto.

Sakura pushed the button to accept and was startled when the scroll she was holding went up in flames and smoke. "What was that?"

"You learned it," said Naruto, pulling out his own scroll again, this time accepting to learn.

**[Doton Affinity (Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00%]**

The ability to manipulate and control earth style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Doton effects 1%.

**[Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp 0.00% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Manipulate the earth and stone around you to encase yourself in a thin armor of earth providing enhanced defense.

Additional +10 DEF when active**. **

"That's not fair, it's like cheating or something, have you been doing that all this time?"

"Yeah, it's totally overpowered," boasted Naruto.

"What did you get?"

"A stone skin ability, it gave me a doton affinity too which is weird. I thought you could only have one affinity," said Naruto, scratching his head in confusion.

Sakura frowned in thought. "Hmm, I think maybe you can get an affinity for all the elements with training but you have one natural affinity like my lightning one."

"That . . . would explain a lot," said Naruto, rubbing his chin, now lost in his own thoughts.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I read a book a while ago that talked about personalities and affinities and secondary affinities and how you could learn all of them but would probably never master any of them."

"You read a book?" she asked in surprise.

Naruto looked at her flatly. "Ha, ha, very funny. Yes, I've read a book, a few of them in fact."

"Sorry, you just never struck me as the reading type," she said guiltily.

"Meh, I don't read much but I do read on occasion," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, he really wasn't that bothered by it. "Anyway, training today, how do you want to do this?"

"Um, well I need to practice the genjutsu I learned even if I did learn it instantly."

"Yeah, I can't really train if you're putting me in a genjutsu all day."

"What about one of your clones?" she asked.

"Yeah, that could work," said Naruto. "So same pattern as yesterday then except that you mix in your genjutsu and I'll mix in my new stone skin technique. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," replied Sakura. "Let's get to work."

Naruto created a single clone for her to practice on and then refilled his chakra. That done, he activated the Ishi no Hada for the first time. Naruto watched as a fine layer of rocks crawled up his legs slowly covering his body then seamlessly blending in with his normal skin tone. He moved a few times experimentally and after deciding there was nothing wrong he charged toward the tree he'd used the day before. He could totally do both at the same time.

It didn't take long for Naruto to nearly empty out his large chakra supply. He once again sat down and refilled his chakra depleting his health by over half.

"Hey, can you heal me again?"

"Yeah," said Sakura, wiping her own brow once then sitting to refill her own chakra. She healed him, then herself then went right back to placing genjutsu on the clone.

Naruto wished there was more conversation but he understood that there was work to get done. After three more rounds of draining, charging, and healing the pair took a short break.

"So how many skill levels did you gain?"

"Six for the genjutsu," she answered. "What does gaining a skill level do exactly?"

"Say 'Skills' to find out," said Naruto, pulling out a couple of canteens from his inventory. A few water canteens was something Naruto only recently started carrying around with him regularly. He held one out to Sakura, who absentmindedly accept the water canteen and drank from it while she looked through and studied her skills list.

"This is kind of neat," she said, finally closing the window.

"Yeah, so what did it say about your genjutsu?"

"Oh, well, when I first learned it, the message said the illusion would last 10 seconds and cost 100 CP to use. Now it says it will last 15 seconds but still costs 100 CP."

"That's not too bad. The improvements are usually small, skills don't really make giant leaps in improvement. Still, a few extra seconds goes a long way in a shinobi battle."

Sakura nodded while she put the canteen to her mouth and took a long drink from it.

After they both emptied their canteens they went back to work, the same pattern repeating over and over again until the light of day had begun to fade.

"I think that's enough for today," said Sakura, refilling her chakra one last time to heal herself and then Naruto.

"Okay," said Naruto, walking back down the tree for a final time.

Once on ground level, Naruto dismissed his clone refilling his missing CP since it hadn't used any.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Due to repeated exposure to genjutsu, a sensing skill 'Detect Genjutsu' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

**[Detect Genjutsu]'s level has increased by 1.**

"What the fuck?" asked Naruto, blinking several times as he was bombarded with the messages and the nightmarish memories his poor bastard of a clone suffered.

"What is it?" asked Sakura, looking around.

"My clone . . . it learned?" he half asked, half stated.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, when it dispelled, I got a new skill called [Detect Genjutsu] and it gained like 16 levels from you constantly torturing it," he replied.

"I did not torture your clone and do you mean to tell me that your clone can learn stuff and give the memories to you?"

"I will never forgive you for what you did to that clone. No ramen should ever be disrespected so . . . it was just wrong on so many levels," Naruto couldn't restrain the shudder. "As for the clone learning, yeah it did . . . does . . . whatever."

"That is so unfair," griped Sakura.

"I'm so going to abuse the shit out of my clones," said Naruto, grinning happily.

Sakura couldn't help but think about the possibilities. "You could do a lot with that. Even have them practice jutsu if you don't waste too much chakra doing it."

"Fifteen clones doing tree climbing for one minute forty seconds before dispelling equals twenty-five minutes of training in that time period. Add recharge and Sakura heals and I can get an extra seventy-two hours of training per twelve hours training . . . this is going to be epic!"

"Naruto, I'm not going to heal you every minute and a half just so you can train more," stated Sakura crossing her arms.

"But Sakura-chan . . . this going to be awesome!"

"Not happening," she said firmly, then turning and walking away.

Naruto pestered her the entire way back to Tazuna's but her answer didn't change.

**You've slept in a bed. HP &amp; CP are 75% restored.**

Up early and quickly fed, the young shinobi met up with their sensei, this time by the dock just outside of Tazuna's house.

"So, today you'll be learning to walk on water," started Kakashi, leaning heavily on his crutches. "You push chakra to your feet like in tree climbing but this time you want to push against the surface instead of trying to stick to the surface. Any questions? None great, I'll be inside if you need me." Kakashi didn't even wait around a minute for them before he crutched back inside the house.

"And you're sure he's not lazy?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah, only on a technicality though," said Naruto. "Anyway, I'm going down the coast a bit to do this training."

Sakura frowned that he didn't want to include Sasuke but when she looked toward the boy of interest, he was already walking down the coast in the opposite direction from Naruto. Eventually she ran to catch up with Naruto.

Naruto couldn't help but smile when Sakura chose to join him for training rather than chase after Sasuke.

"You came," said Naruto.

"I did," she replied. "I figure that training with you will be my best chance of improving, especially with your gamer ability."

Naruto grinned a little at her. He quickly formed a team and invited her. "Well then, ready to get to work?"

"Sure am."

Naturally Sakura got the hang of water walking almost immediately, only two or three tries and she was walking on it like a pro. Naruto decided to try the clone method and created fifteen of them and set them start trying to learn. The good news was that if they fell in they didn't dispel. The bad news was that it only took a minute before they dispelled from chakra loss anyway.

Naruto refilled his chakra, spawned clones and tried it again. Then again. And again. Thankfully Sakura was willing to heal him while he was trying to learn the new skill and it gave her more practice. Naruto finally got the skill just before lunch but it was enough to put him in a good mood.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**By using your chakra to repel liquid surfaces, a skill to improve chakra control 'Water Walking' Lvl 1 has been created.**

**[Water Walking (Passive) Lv1 0.00% CP: 20 per 5 seconds]**

By expelling chakra from your feet to repel the watery surface to are able to stand firmly upon it.

Passively increases WIS 1%

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 1%

Naruto frowned at the description, it wasn't any better than tree climbing and it was considerably more expensive. "That is a costly training skill," groused Naruto.

"Yeah, it's not very cheap is it," said Sakura. "However, I can't think of too many circumstances in which we'll have to use the skill other than for training."

"Except for now?" asked Naruto, a wry smirk.

Sakura conceded with a nod. "Except for not but honestly, how often are we going to find ourselves in this specific situation?"

"Probably not too often but still, it'll be costly if we ever have a prolonged fight similarly."

Sakura shrugged. "Not much we can do about it except improve it. As we level it, the cost to use it will reduce slowly but surely."

"Fair enough I suppose, now are you up for an adventure?" asked Naruto, grinning cheekily.

"Maybe, why? Did you find something?"

"One of my clones found something," he said. "One of the ones that made it furthest off the coast before losing balance and falling in saw an underwater cave. It swam down inside of it and found there was air inside. Want to explore it?"

Sakura gave it some honest thought before answering. "I suppose we could. Did your clone find anything in it?"

"Dispelled just after it got inside," he replied.

"Okay, but let's heal up and restore our chakra first just in case."

Naruto nodded his agreement and refilled his chakra then allowed Sakura to heal him.

Both healed up then waded out into the water and dove under, Sakura following behind Naruto as he swam toward the cave. The entrance was fairly large and the tunnel itself was a bit long but not so much that either of them ran out of breath. The tunnel turned upwards and they swam to the surface and into a large cavern that glowed blue with a bioluminescence from above them. If one were to look closely they would see the glow originated from small glowing snail shells.

"So pretty," said Sakura, looking around the cavern.

The cavern eventually narrowed toward a tunnel that glowed with the same bioluminescence.

"Ooh, tunnel," said Naruto, pointing toward it.

"Let's check it out," said Sakura.

As the pair walked toward the entrance and pop up warning appeared.

**Nami Seacave – **Many sea-dwelling creatures have made this cave their home. The chakra naturally produce by the snails that cover many of the various surfaces have mutated these inhabitants making them more aggressive and more dangerous. Recommended Level: 20**.**

"This could be fun," said Naruto, swallowing nervously.

"Are you sure we can handle this?" asked Sakura.

"Of course, and if it gets too difficult we can just leave," he replied.

"Alright, but don't make me regret this."

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV22** Next Level: **58.12%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **3752/3752

**CP: **2941/2941

**STR: **54 (40.40) = 94.40

**VIT: **46 (109.20) = 155.20

**DEX: **54 (20.80) = 74.80

**INT: **57 (17.13) = 74.13

**WIS: **48 (40.40) = 68.40

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **219 (55.50) = 273.75

**SPD: **10 (58.40) = 68.40

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Prankster **(-5% reputation gains, +5% experience to [Trap] Skill, +5% experience to [Stealth] Skill)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **261000

**[Raiton Affinity (Passive) Lv12 Exp: 24.41%]**

The ability to manipulate and control lightning style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Raiton effects 12%.

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu (Active) Lv17 Exp: 6.54% HP: 5 per second]**

Manipulate raiton chakra to stimulate the production of chakra within your body.

Additional 17 CP regenerated per second while active.

**[Doton Affinity (Passive) Lv3 Exp: 88.54%]**

The ability to manipulate and control earth style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Doton effects 1%.

**[Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu (Active) Lv6 Exp 17.85% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Manipulate the earth and stone around you to encase yourself in a thin armor of earth providing enhanced defense.

Additional +35 DEF when active**. **

**[Detect Genjutsu (Passive) Lv16 Exp: 45.65%]**

Genjutsu is made to confuse the senses, knowing when you're caught in one is half the battle to breaking it.

Passively detect Genjutsu effects 16%.

**[Water Walking (Passive) Lv1 0.00% CP: 20 per 5 seconds]**

By expelling chakra from your feet to repel the watery surface to are able to stand firmly upon it.

Passively increases WIS 1%

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 1%


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

"Naruto, I swear if we get out of here alive I'm going to kill you!" shouted Sakura as she ran from a giant crab.

"Put it in a genjutsu," he shouted back. He then quickly ducked two pincers from two different giant crabs.

"It's immune now, I've used it on it too many times," shouted back, running and dodging again.

"So why didn't you jam a kunai in its eye while it was dazed," retorted Naruto, doing just that to one of the two he was fighting. He kicked the kunai butt deeper into the crabs eye-socket then leaped away just in time for the explosive tag that was wrapped around the handle to detonate instantly killing the crab.

"I didn't think about it," she shouted back.

"Then genjutsu this one and I'll get the other one," he said, dropping a smoke bomb to hopefully confuse the crab.

"Hurry then," she yelled, frustration leaking through in her voice.

Naruto chakra sprinted toward the crab chasing Sakura, when he got close he slid on his back under the pissed off crab and kicked with as much strength as he could muster flipping the crab onto it's back. Then he leaped on top of it and jammed a kunai into one its eyes and hammered it down then primed the explosive tag and leaped away.

A pair of detonations resounded echoing off the glowing cave walls signaling the death of both crabs.

Naruto turned to make sure Sakura's opponent was dead. He saw her on her knees breathing heavily and the crab nearby, dead and fading away.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Naruto, you're a dead man," she growled, but didn't really move to act on her threat.

"Fair enough, they were a bit tougher than the other things we've fought in here. Still, now that we know the way to kill them it won't be a problem," said Naruto, trying to both placate and encourage the girl to continue.

Sakura huffed a few times as she tried to make up her mind. "Fine, let's keep going but it had better be worth it."

"Anyway, heal up, charge up and then let's get moving," said Naruto, sitting down to do his own chakra charging.

"What about the stuff those big guys left behind?" asked Sakura, pointing to where the bodies previously laid.

"They left stuff?" asked Naruto, standing up and walking over to check it out.

**Crustacean Chitin – A hard light-weight shell. Crafting Material.**

Naruto collected the stuff and put it in his inventory.

"What did you do with it?" Sakura asked, having just watched the shells disappear.

"I put it in my inventory, we can divide it up when we get back to Tazuna's or even Konoha. The shell pieces they left behind are crafting material. We can take them to Higurashi's in Konoha and see if he can make anything with them," explained Naruto.

"Okay, how many pieces did we get?"

"Six, each of them dropped two."

"So now where?" asked Sakura, motioning to the tunnel ahead of them which now split in two different paths.

"Both," said Naruto, forming a few clones and send them down the two tunnels.

"That is still like cheating you know," she chided him.

"Yeah, so? What's your point? Cheating is what ninja and gamers do best," he retorted with a chuckle.

Naruto paused in his laugh only to look toward the left hand tunnel. "Okay, so you're about to be really angry with me but I swear, I didn't mean to pull so many."

"What did you do?" asked Sakura, retreating quickly to stand in support behind Naruto.

"Found some of the big crabs."

"How many?"

"Um . . . nine," he said hesitantly.

"Nine!" Sakura shouted, anger very clearly apparent.

"It wasn't my fault, it was a damned trap, I got to a dead end and when I turned around the wall on either side broke away revealing the crabs," he tried to explain to his very unhappy friend.

Sakura chose not to reply, her head moved around looking at the cave area they were in quickly trying to formulate a plan.

"Okay, I have a plan," she said confidently.

"I'm all ears."

"Use your clones to bottle up the crabs, let them into this larger area one at a time where I can kill them quickly if that attack pattern keeps working," she said, her confidence fading toward the end of her statement.

"I can do that," said Naruto, quickly spawning dozens of clones. The clones quickly ran into the left hand tunnel and then up to the ceiling of it, the idea being that they could drop down and let just one through while they tried to slow the rest down.

"It's working," said Naruto, getting the memory of the first clone to die. "But it won't last long, the clones are getting destroyed."

"Right then, let's kill them fast then," said Sakura, already preparing handseals for her genjutsu.

The first crab emerged and was dead within seconds.

"This could work," said Naruto, spawning a few dozen more clones and sending them into the tunnel.

It did work. Sakura's plan allowed them to take out all nine crabs in a manner of minutes without taking any damage in the endeavor.

"That's eighteen more pieces of chitin," said Naruto coming out of the now empty left tunnel. "And, this," said Naruto, holding out a scroll.

"A jutsu? What is it?"

"[Dokugiri no Jutsu], a poison mist technique. You want it?"

Sakura quickly snatched the scroll and tapped the 'Confirm (Y)'. Then she realized what she'd just done. "I'm sorry, I should have asked if you wanted it?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head looking slightly guilty. "Yeah, well . . . when I found it I got excited like you did and tried to learn it. Said I need a ton of wisdom to learn it and knowledge of poisons, something I don't really have at all."

"Okay, no longer feeling guilty," said Sakura, not really angry but slightly miffed anyway.

"Well, we've rested enough, let's go check out the right tunnel," said Naruto.

"What did your clone find out?"

"He stopped when he saw another group of those eels," Naruto answered then shivered slightly. "I still say they are damned creepy."

"You'll get no argument from me on that but at least they die easily."

Naruto shrugged and lead the way into the cave.

The pair continued to explore the cave, killing as they went. The right side tunnel started climbing after the first fifty meters before finally emerging outside to a rocky outcropping that faced a small bay that was enclosed by sharp pointed rocks, wave crashing against it from the ocean beyond. It reminded Naruto strongly of a prison or giant teeth. Meanwhile the beach before them was extremely muddy mess and very hard to see anything in, it even turned the ocean water murkier than normal.

"Hey, we're back outside, was that the end of it?" asked Sakura, looking around.

"I doubt that," said Naruto, seeing something moving slowly, subtly in the muddy beach ahead of them.

"What the hell is that?" asked Sakura, now seeing the movement as well.

"I'm guessing it's the boss," said Naruto, arming himself quickly with a pair of kunai.

"But what is it?"

"Namazu, a giant catfish that lives in the mud," said Naruto, simplifying the [Observe] he'd just used.

"So what do we do?"

"For starters, avoid its spines, they are poisonous, coated in some kind of paralytic," said Naruto, adding a bit more information. "So we try to stay at range if we can."

"Right, range fight," said Sakura, nodding once. She then formed a few handseals trying to ensnare it immediately in a genjutsu. "What the hell? It's immune to my genjutsu."

"Maybe because it's level twenty-seven and you're only level nineteen," suggested Naruto. He suddenly had to move as the creature was now pissed off thanks to Sakura trying to put it in a genjutsu. Namazu had shot some of its poisoned spines at the pair precipitating evasive maneuvers.

Naruto tossed a handful of shuriken at the moving mud hitting nothing for his efforts but successfully drawing the ire of the beast.

"We have to get it out of the mud," said Sakura. "It's acting like a natural armor."

"Gotcha," said Naruto, this time throwing a few [Shrapnel Kunai] into the mud around the well camouflaged fish. The kunai detonated causing the fish a chunk of damage but also causing it to thrash about wildly, shaking the ground all around them. It felt as if the whole island was shaking.

"What the hell is this?"

"I think the fishes thrashing around is causing it," said Naruto, trying to keep his balance, and slipping in the mud anyway.

"We're going to have to kill it faster," said Sakura. "We can't have it thrashing around like this."

"Agreed," said Naruto, climbing back to his feet now that the shaking had stopped.

The mud started moving again, this time building up into a mound of dirt and water that started running off its sides. Finally the mud finished falling away and the duo was faced with a giant catfish, easily twice as tall as either of them while it sat on top of the mud, shining red eyes glaring at them both.

"It was his idea," shouted Sakura, pointing at Naruto.

Naruto looked at her briefly before focusing on the giant fish in front of him and now having to dodge like a mad man as wave after wave of poison spine was shot toward him.

Naruto tried tossing the occasional [Shrapnel Kunai] at the thing but it barely did any damage, in fact the shrapnel seemed to get stuck to the beast in some kind of mucus layer or left over mud.

Then the giant bastard opened its mouth and took a giant bit of the muddy beach only to spit it out like a giant mud boulder right at Naruto. "Sakura, explosive kunai in the mouth while it's open!"

Sakura threw a kunai with an explosive tag into the things mouth before it closed. A moment later there was a muffled boom followed by another earthquake as well as a screech of pain from the giant fish.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as the mud boulder seemed to lose its shape and fall apart after that.

Naruto and Sakura were once again doing their best to keep their feet under them. Naruto saw that Namazu's health dropped about a tenth with that one explosion in its mouth.

"Okay, next time he fires one of those mud balls at me you need to fill up that giant fat mouth of his with as many explosive kunai as you can. We can't afford to have this fight drag on."

"Will do," said Sakura, pulling a handful of kunai and starting to prep them while Naruto went back to doing what he did best, pissing ugly things off.

It didn't take Naruto long to antagonize the ugly bastard into opening his mouth and firing another mud boulder at him.

Sakura capitalized, throwing as many kunai as she could manage into the opening before it closed.

The kunai detonated knocking Namazu's health down into the red.

Naruto couldn't help smirking as the fish's lips parted slightly to let smoke out and a stream of blood to flow out. It didn't last long as the fish reared up exposing its belly. There was a slight bubbling of the skin before two legs emerged. When it landed again, it was now on two feet and dragging its hulking body and tail behind it.

"Now what?" asked Sakura, trying to put more space between the monster and herself.

"When in doubt, go for the eyes," said Naruto as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"And how are t you going to get to its eyes?"

Naruto just grinned as he spawned a handful of clones. Four of them went to attack the beast and draw its attention while the one remaining cupped his hands in front of him.

Naruto stepped into the waiting clones hands and was sprung skyward a moment later.

Naruto had practiced this air drop attack recently because it had come in extremely handy in the training fields in Konoha, especially against giant monster where he couldn't really miss. Still, this was a huge risk, if he missed he could fail to hurt it or worse, end up impaled on one of the poison spines.

Naruto pushed chakra into his kunai as he did his best to aim as he fell rapidly at the monster.

Naruto's kunai impacted first, a few meters behind the eye but still penetrating to the hilt before stopping as it hit bone or cartilage. Either way, Naruto end up trying to hold on for dear life as the monster bucked and thrashed trying to shake him off. Instead, it caused Naruto's kunai to suddenly cut and slide through its skin from the point of impact all the way to the belly which was mostly soft tissue. The impact was immediate as the last of the monsters life drained away completely as its guts spilled out all over the ground and unfortunately Naruto as he was directly under the beast as it fell apart.

"Ewe," shrieked Sakura, seeing the belly of the beast spill out all over her friend covering him in the most disgusting gunk ever.

Naruto did his best not to scream in disgust for fear of getting any of the monster guts in his mouth but it was taking a level of self-control Naruto didn't even know he possessed. Thankfully, the gunk didn't remain long as it rapidly decayed into nothingness leaving Naruto mostly clean . . . well absent guts but still covered in mud.

"We speak of this to no one," he said firmly.

"But-"

"No one," snapped Naruto, giving Sakura a look promising pain if she ever told anyone about it.

"So that's it?"

"It had better be, I don't think I can go through that again," said Naruto, sitting down with a tired sigh only to yelp in pain as he sat on something hard.

It was a wooden box half buried in the mud.

"So now the bosses leave treasure chests?" asked Sakura.

"I guess so, or maybe it was just this one. Who really knows or cares at this point?"

"Fair enough," said Sakura with a tired shrug.

Naruto tugged on the chest trying to free it from the mud and after a bit of effort it came free along with a lot of mud covering Naruto once again in muck though a preferable muck to the monster muck of earlier.

Sakura tried and failed to stifle a giggle.

Naruto gave her the stink eye even as he wiped mud from himself and the chest alike. It didn't take much for Naruto to pop the latch on the chest and open it.

Inside was a nice little treasure trove of goodies. "50000 ryo, a scroll and four bottles of paralyzing poison."

Sakura happily took her share of the money and two of the bottles of poison.

Naruto also took his money and two bottles of poison, leaving the scroll untouched and taunting them both.

**Namazu Paralytic Poison (2) – **Toxin Collected and bottled that can be applied to weapons. Poison reduces speed 25% per stack, stacks up to 4 times.

Naruto opened his inventory first to check out the poison and see what it did.

"That's is good poison," said Naruto.

"Very good," said Sakura, looking at the vials closely. "So, who gets the scroll?"

"Let's see was it is first," said Naruto, picking it up.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

"[Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu], an earth bullet technique."

"You should learn it," said Sakura. "You've got the earth affinity already and I learned the poison mist earlier so it's only fair."

"Really? Thanks, Sakura-chan," he shouted in joy, quickly hitting the 'Confirm (Y)' and learning his first offensive ninjutsu.

**[Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 50]**

A D-Rank ninjutsu. You can now spit a ball of mud at high speed to damage an opponent. Damage and accuracy increases the closer you are to your target.

"Now can we please leave? I am beyond ready for a nice long bath and a good night's sleep."

"Hell yeah, let's get out of here," said Naruto, happily turning toward the entrance back into the cave system and leading Sakura out of there.

It didn't take long for the determined pair to get back to the underwater tunnel that would take them out of the caves. As soon as Naruto crossed the line exiting the 'dungeon' he had a pop-up appear.

**Bonus Objective Completed: Awarded 10000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: C-Rank Mission . . . as if.**

**Protect Tazuna through the process of completing his bridge.**

**Objectives:**

**Escort Tazuna safely to Nami no Kuni.**

**Escort Tazuna safely through Nami no Kuni to his home.**

**Train hard and prepare for the return of Zabuza.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Ambush the ambushers, defeat Gozu and Meizu before they can spring their trap.**

**Discover the Nami Seacave and clear it of monsters.**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp per Bonus Objective.**

**50000 Exp upon completion of all Objectives.**

**100000 Ryo upon completion of all Objectives.**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Increase reputation with Nami**

Naruto was grinning all the way back to Tazuna's house, it was a very productive day after all.

**You've slept in a bed. HP &amp; CP are 75% restored.**

Naruto woke up happy. He'd had a good day the previous day and had accomplished so much in a very short amount of time. It was kind of awesome and he knew it.

It didn't take long for him to get ready for another day of training.

"Yo," greeted Kakashi, as Naruto sat at the dining table.

"Feeling better?"

"Much, I should be back to 100% in another few days. Until then we need to start rotating guard on Tazuna, he insisted he go back to working on the bridge today."

"Isn't that a bit too risky?" asked Sakura.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, agreeing in his own way.

"Yes, which is why I said we'll have a rotating guard on him starting today," he repeated. "So, any volunteers for first watch?"

His request was met with complete silence.

"I have training to do," said Sasuke, standing and leaving the table.

"Mah, you'll have to guard him tomorrow then," said Kakashi, watching the boy leave.

"We'll watch him today," volunteered Sakura.

"We?" asked Naruto and Kakashi in one voice.

"We, me and Naruto," she clarified.

Naruto wanted to groan but let it go for now, at least until they were able to talk in private at the bridge.

An hour later Naruto and Sakura were standing guard at the bridge while Tazuna got to work.

"So what was this all about?" asked Naruto.

"We can both get training done this way. You can use your stone skin then recharge and I can heal you and recharge, we both win that way," she answered. "Better than either of us just trying to train on our own."

"I suppose," said Naruto. "You've gotten pretty serious about this training thing, huh?"

Sakura blushed slightly and looked away from him embarrassed. "I don't like being a Fangirl. It makes feel like I'm really the 'dobe' of the class instead of you."

Naruto would have groused about the 'dobe' comment but decided to take the high road on that one. She was a friend so he could let that go.

"Anyway, let's get to it," she said, smiling.

Naruto formed the team and invited her then they both got right into training, both being cautious to never let their chakra points drop below half just in case they were attacked. They actually both gained quite a few skill levels in the process

Finally Tazuna called it a day and sent his workers home. Naruto and Sakura escorted him through the town market and their meager offerings, it was very downtrodden and hopeless feeling. It was quite sad.

Once home, Tazuna gave the small bag of rice to Tsunami before sitting down at the kitchen table and leaning back.

They were joined shortly thereafter by Sasuke and a young boy they had yet to meet The young man looked a great deal like Tsunami even with part of his face obscured by a blue and white bucket hat that seemed popular among fishermen.

"Who are you?" asked Sakura, noticing the boy first.

"This is Inari, my son," said Tsunami. "You have been training long hours so you've missed him the last few days seeing as you get home so late."

"Why?" the boy asked softly.

"Why what?" asked Naruto, meeting the boys eyes.

"Why do you bother? You're just going to die."

"Oh, is that so?" asked Naruto. "And who is going to kill us?"

"Gato, you moron," snapped the boy. "You can't beat him, no one can."

"Won't know until I try," said Naruto. "Besides, it's not like we can back out now."

"Then you'll die, just like . . ."

"Like who?" asked Sakura, trying to coax the boy to reply.

"I hate you all, you stupid ninja have probably never known a day of hardship in your lives. Smiling and laughing like nothing matters. You'll die and then Gato will kill my grandpa and my mom and then maybe me too and it will be all your fault. You should run away and maybe Gato will forget about it."

"Coward," said Sasuke softly. "You're a coward boy. You don't know what you're talking about, not in the slightest."

"There is no such thing as a hero, so don't try to pretend you're brave or something."

"We're all heroes, kid," said Kakashi softly. "We're ninja, being a hero is in the job description even." He could have also pointed out that if he was paid enough money he'd be a villain too but that was neither here nor there.

"Liars, you're all liars. Heroes don't exist. There is no such thing." He cried out then ran for the stairs.

"You'll have to forgive the boy," said Tazuna. "He's had a hard time since his father passed . . . well . . . not passed exactly. He was murdered in the town square, executed by Gato's goons."

Naruto frowned and set down his bowl. "I'm done, I'll be out training, sensei."

"Don't stay out too late," said Kakashi, knowing full well it was unlikely he'd see Naruto until he was hungry, maybe in the morning for breakfast if then.

"I'll keep an eye on him, sensei," volunteered Sakura.

"Oh, you've been spending a lot of time with, Naruto-kun. Does someone have a bit of a crush?" asked Tsunami, giggling slightly.

"Hell no!" shouted Sakura. "No chance in hell, not even if he was the last man on earth. Never going to happen lady."

"Oh my, such a passionate response. So it's that kind of relationship?" asked Tsunami, forcing a false blush.

Sakura's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Forget it, he can take care of himself. I'm going to bed after a nice hot shower. Suddenly I'm feeling sick to my stomach." She quickly retreated up the stairs doing her best to ignore the laughter that chased after her.

**You've slept on the cold hard ground. HP &amp; CP are 10% restored.**

Naruto grumbled irritably when he finally woke up. And despite the fact that an angel seemed to be looking after him he still felt tired and sore and just plain irritable.

"Good morning," said the young woman. "You know you'll catch cold if you sleep out here like that."

"Huh?" questioned Naruto ever so eloquently. "Who're you?"

"My name is Haku," she replied.

"Nice to meet you," said Naruto, sitting up and trying to shake out the cobwebs of such a rotten night of sleep. The first thing he saw was a beautiful young girl with midnight black hair and delicate features wearing pink kimono. Then he looked for the girls name floating above her head. Only one name and a level, 'Haku Lv 31'.

"So what brought you out here?" she asked, shaking Naruto from his curiosity of her name and level.

"Oh, training. I have to get stronger," he replied.

"Stronger for what?" she asked.

"My team is trying to help free this country," he replied.

"Oh, then you're here to kill Gato?"

"I wish," grumbled Naruto. "Nah, we're here to protect the bridge builder Tazuna so he can finish his bridge and free the people from Gato's tyranny."

"I see, so you're getting stronger to protect someone?"

"I'm getting stronger to protect everyone," he replied quickly.

"I see, then you'll become really strong in the future. I believe that when someone has something to protect they can become truly strong."

"Yeah," said Naruto, agreeing wholeheartedly. "So what brings you out here?"

"I'm gathering herbs for a sick friend."

"Oh, so you're an iryonin," said Naruto, figuring that with her level she had to be shinobi of some sort.

The girl suddenly jumped back away from him in a slight bit of fright. "How . . . how did you know?"

"It's not that hard to tell," said Naruto, trying to sound confident in the face of a now defensive shinobi that definitely outclassed him. "You wouldn't have been able to sneak up on me, even when I was sleeping if you weren't. Plus, I can tell, you're pretty strong." He may have lied through his teeth but it was believable enough and the girl didn't seem too concerned he might have been lying. He was more concerned with why she was suddenly so on edge.

"I see," she replied cautiously, one hand moving slowly behind her back as if reaching for a weapon.

"You're a bit uptight, huh?" he asked, trying to appear completely relaxed but feeling less so with each passing moment.

"I am your enemy, am I not?" One of her hands was not behind her back, probably pulling some manner of weapon.

"Are you?" asked Naruto, his own hand slowly moving toward his weapon pouch. "Mind explaining, why are you my enemy again?"

"I see, you really don't know. Well then Naruto-kun, I'll tell you. I am Zabuza-sama's tool. When next we meet we will most assuredly fight to the death."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You work with that guy? And what do you mean next time?"

"He is my master," she replied.

"Oh, so you have that kind of relationship," stated Naruto, earning a severe blush from the girl and a lot of anger.

"I am a boy," the now identified boy stated, his eyebrow twitching slightly.

"Really? But you're like . . . pretty and stuff. You totally look like a girl right now," replied Naruto, clearly in disbelief of the Haku's statement.

There was the sound of branch snapping nearby drawing both Haku and Naruto's attention momentarily. When Naruto looked back, Haku was gone.

"Well that shit wasn't scary or anything," said Naruto. He glanced again at his health and chakra which were both down around twenty percent. Clearly he had trained too hard the night before. "She . . . he would have totally killed me if we fought now." He sat down heavily on the ground trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV22** Next Level: **88.14%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **3752/3752

**CP: **2941/2941

**STR: **54 (40.40) = 94.40

**VIT: **46 (109.20) = 154.20

**DEX: **54 (20.80) = 74.80

**INT: **57 (17.13) = 74.13

**WIS: **48 (40.40) = 68.40

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **219 (55.50) = 273.75

**SPD: **10 (58.40) = 68.40

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **286000

**[Raiton Affinity (Passive) Lv17 Exp: 74.21%]**

The ability to manipulate and control lightning style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Raiton effects 17%.

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu (Active) Lv27 Exp: 14.21% HP: 4 per second]**

Manipulate raiton chakra to stimulate the production of chakra within your body.

Additional 27 CP regenerated per second while active**.**

**[Doton Affinity (Passive) Lv7 Exp: 78.14%]**

The ability to manipulate and control earth style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Doton effects 7%.

**[Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu (Active) Lv14 Exp 12.32% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Manipulate the earth and stone around you to encase yourself in a thin armor of earth providing enhanced defense.

Additional +75 DEF when active**. **

**[Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 50]**

A D-Rank ninjutsu. You can now spit a ball of mud at high speed to damage an opponent. Damage and accuracy increases the closer you are to your target. Deals Blunt Damage 20-40.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: I've gotten a lot of question about how much experience it takes for Naruto to Level now. I'm trying to take an approach of a long ass time. 10K Exp now might get him 4%. So with all the kills in the dungeon he might get a total of 30k experience. I don't want him to level too quickly or it becomes a lot less fun.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

Two days after meeting Haku, Naruto and Sakura ran through the Nami Seacave again, both earning a much needed level.

"So I can do whatever I want with the points as long as I'm grouped with you otherwise they will be automatically distributed?" she asked, studying her status screen yet again.

"Yep," he replied, distributing his own points into getting his WIS to 50 and VIT to 49, he'd train up the other point in VIT later, he wouldn't be able to do much with either WIS or INT until he got back to Konoha and he wanted to get his base points to 50 across the board for now at least.

"I see," she said, carefully studying her points. Finally she put a few points into her VIT and DEX. Suddenly she cheered . . . shrieked loudly just about deafening Naruto in the process.

"What the hell?" he asked, wriggling a finger in his ringing ear.

"My status changed," she said.

"Really?" he asked. "What did it change to? Never mind, I'll look for myself," silently using [Observe] a moment later.

**Name: **Haruno Sakura

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV20** Next Level: **12.22%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **750/750

**CP: **490/490

**STR: ** 38

**VIT: **75

**DEX: ** 51

**INT: **196

**WIS: ** 300

**LUK: ** 8

**DEF: ** 77

**SPD: **42

**Status: Perfect Control **(+15 WIS per level, -50% cost to all jutsu),** Medic** (-25% cost to iryojutsu, +25% healing to iryojutsu), **Book Smart **(+10 INT per level, -75% CP, +25% increase to skill experience)

**Haruno Sakura is the smartest student in class. Though very intelligent she is not very physically gifted. After becoming a Genin and being forced to face certain realities she done some significant growing up starting with putting away the silly and childish crush on Sasuke. The question remains whether or not she can repair the relationships in her life she has damaged as a result of her Fangirlism.**

"Medic, nice!" said Naruto appreciatively.

"Thank you, Naruto. I owe you for helping me out."

"If you really want to thank me-"

"Not a chance," she said flatly before he could even finish.

"But Sakura-chan," he whined.

"What next? We can't clear the sea cave for another three days right?"

"Yeah, for now we should push for the bonus stat points," he said.

"Bonus stat points?"

"Yeah, every time you gain a level you can train to gain an additional stat point in each category.

"So I can gain twenty points in each status point?"

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe, it depends on if you've already earned bonus stat points."

"So how do we start?"

"Well, for STR points, sit-ups and push-ups seems to work but it takes more reps the higher the point level. For VIT, running seems to work just fine but like STR, you have to run longer the higher the point level is. For DEX I usually use the academy obstacle course but there are plenty of trees around here for us to use, we'll just have to be creative. INT requires studying and WIS requires strategy type stuff, I like playing shogi against Shikamaru."

"So, we can train our STR, DEX, and VIT here but really need to go back to Konoha for the others huh?"

"We can see if Tazuna has a shogi board and set when we get back to his house tonight but I'm not counting on it." Naruto explained as he began some light stretching.

"So what do we start with?"

"VIT, it will be a good warm-up, we can run to the bridge and back a few times, that should be enough for me to get my point and maybe a few points for you," he instructed.

Sakura had a look of worry on her face but nodded acceptance anyway.

Naruto started the run at a fair pace so Sakura could keep up. Sakura did keep up, running just behind him.

It took eight laps from the bridge to Tazuna's and back for Naruto to gain his point. Sakura ended up only running six of those laps, having to stop and rest every few laps, still, she gained five points for her efforts.

Naruto was surprised when he had an addition blue window appeared with the VIT point award.

**A well rounded shinobi is a dangerous shinobi. By obtaining a base of 50 points in each stat you have obtained the passive ability 'Well Rounded'.**

**[Well Rounded (Passive) LvMax] **

Allows the user to gain an extra bonus stat point for every five levels he's earned.

Now it was Naruto's turn to shriek in joy.

Sakura looked sharply at Naruto for interrupting her rest. "What has you so happy?"

Naruto grinned. "I gained a new passive ability," he replied.

"Oh, what's that?"

"[Well Rounded], it allows me to gain an extra bonus stat point every five levels. It's kind of bad ass huh?"

"So you can gain another four points to all of your stats?"

"Yeah, I'm awesome," he boasted happily.

"So, we'll be training like this for a few days then huh?"

"Probably, we both need to, to be honest."

"I suppose," said Sakura, looking at him doubtful as to whether or not she'd be able to keep up with the training.

"Don't worry, we've got plenty of time to train this stuff up and work on our skills."

And it was true, they were able to train quite a bit. Once Kakashi was back to full strength a week after he first went down with chakra exhaustion, the man decided that himself and two of the genin would accompany Tazuna to the bridge while the third member stayed behind to protect Tazuna's family just in case Gato tried to pull something underhanded. Even with that they were able to get in plenty of training.

It had been three days since Kakashi had started this new pattern and it just happened to be Naruto's turn to guard Tsunami and Inari.

Naruto was keeping watch outside the house, standing on the water near the end of the docks, getting in a little training while he kept watch but being careful not to overdo it. So when two samurai wannabe thugs walked up to the house Naruto was more than ready for them.

Before they even got to the door Naruto was on them, slashing the throat of one of the samurai ending his life within seconds. The second samurai was able to draw his sword only to have Naruto sever the hand at the wrist with a [Chakra Nagashi] on his kunai.

Naruto covered the man's mouth so his scream wouldn't be heard inside. He then dragged him a hundred meters from the house and tied him to a tree. He also tied off the stump where his hand used to be so he wouldn't bleed out.

"Who sent you?"

"Gato, oh kami . . . you bastard, you cut off my hand," moaned the man clearly in pain.

"Why? Why now?"

"Zabuza is attacking the bridge now. Gato wants leverage in case Zabuza fails," explained the wannabe. "It doesn't really matter though, everyone on that bridge is going to die today. Gato has an army behind him, what can six shinobi do against that?"

"I see," said Naruto, he then slashed the thugs throat ending him. He couldn't afford to take him alive at this point.

**Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp**

**Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp**

**Bonus Objective Completed: Awarded 10000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: C-Rank Mission . . . as if.**

**Protect Tazuna through the process of completing his bridge.**

**Objectives:**

**Escort Tazuna safely to Nami no Kuni.**

**Escort Tazuna safely through Nami no Kuni to his home.**

**Train hard and prepare for the return of Zabuza.**

**Prevent the kidnapping of Tsunami and Inari.**

**Eliminate the immediate threat to Tazuna's Family.**

**Arrive at the bridge and assist your team.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Ambush the ambushers, defeat Gozu and Meizu before they can spring their trap.**

**Discover the Nami Cave and clear it of monsters.**

**Interrogate Gato's thugs for details on the bridge attack.**

**?**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp per Bonus Objective.**

**50000 Exp upon completion of all Objectives.**

**100000 Ryo upon completion of all Objectives.**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Increase reputation with Nami**

Naruto nodded once to himself, spawning a few clones to leave behind and keep watch on Tazuna's home and family just in case. He then turned toward the bridge and ran with as much speed as he could muster.

Naruto arrived at the edge of the bridge to see several of the workers unconscious, not dead thankfully but still worrisome, it was the thick fog toward the other end was doubly worrisome.

Naruto approached the other end of the bridge cautiously, even as he neared the other end he could hear the sharp clanging of metal as Zabuza and Kakashi clashed inside the mist.

However, as Naruto got closer he saw an enclosure of mirrors made of ice floating above the bridge with Sasuke trapped in the middle. He looked relatively unharmed despite seeing a few needles sticking out of him.

Then he watched as Haku emerged from one of the mirrors to taunt Sasuke, something that appeared far too easy to do as the boy responded with a fireball that was largely ineffective.

Naruto was still unnoticed so he was able to observe the fight for a while. Sasuke was barely taking any damage from the senbon so he'd last a while in here. Haku however had taken no damage but appeared to be bleeding out chakra trying to maintain his ice mirror technique.

It was a waiting game at that point. Naruto had to wait for Haku to taunt Sasuke again. Foolishly the boy did and was rewarded with a [Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu] to the side of his head, knocking him silly. Naruto followed up with a barrage of mud balls, whittling away at Haku's health points.

Haku eventually regained his baring but it was too late, he had to abandon his mirror to avoid the fireball Sasuke had fired right at him.

On the ground, gasping for breath, Haku was unprepared for the combined assault from Naruto and Sasuke, driving the boy away from the mirrors, allowing them to shatter and fall apart.

Suddenly Haku froze then screamed loudly before passing out without being touched.

"What did you do?" asked Sasuke and Naruto looking to each other.

"Magen: Narakumi no jutsu," answered Sakura, running up to them followed closely by Tazuna.

"What did you show him?" asked Sasuke, there was something odd in his voice as he looked Sakura up and down. Was it pride for his teammate?

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I kind of let him reveal his own worst fears and they did the rest."

Naruto was quick to bind and tie up Haku. "And captured."

"We should kill him," said Sasuke.

"We may need the leverage if Kakashi-sensei gets in trouble," said Sakura, thinking things through logically.

"Hn, I suppose," replied Sasuke. He would never admit it but he was finding Sakura a bit more interesting now. He recognized that something had clearly changed with the girl.

"So now we wait," said Sakura.

"Not exactly," said Naruto, moving to huddle up with his team. "So, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here and not guarding Tazuna's family, yeah? Gato sent some thugs, one of them told me about the attack. He also told me that Gato intends to kill all of us, including Zabuza."

"So what do we do?"

"We let Kakashi and Zabuza have their fun for now," said Sasuke, smirking. "We get to take out Gato."

"Okay, so the question is 'how would Gato get an army here?" said Naruto.

"Boat," said Sakura. "It would be faster than trying to make them travel over land and it would give an element of surprise, especially in this fog."

"Okay, so one of us needs to stay here with Tazuna and Haku," said Naruto. "The rest of us will need to sink that boat."

"I've got the boat," said Sasuke, leaping off the side of the bridge without another word.

"Try to bring back Gato alive," Naruto called after him but not holding out much hope he heard or would even bother listening to his instruction.

"I guess he's got the boat but that should be fine," said Naruto, turning back to face Sakura.

"That leaves us guarding Tazuna and this guy, Haku was it?"

"Yeah, I met him in the forest a few days ago, scared the shit out of me too. I totally thought I was going to die," explained Naruto.

They didn't have to wait very long for the sounds of screaming to carry up to the bridge from below them followed by loud explosions.

It also had the effect of stopping the fighting between Zabuza and Kakashi.

"It seems we have some uninvited guests," said Zabuza, allowing his mist to dissipate.

"Had," correct Kakashi. "It seems my brats have been busy."

Naruto saw that Kakashi and Zabuza were both unhurt but also significantly lower on chakra compared to their maximum capacity. The pair both cautiously walked to the edge of the bridge and looked down.

"It would seem we're no longer enemies," said Zabuza, looking over the edge of the bridge to see the boat filled with thugs sinking rapidly.

"You damned shinobi," shouted Gato, drawing Kakashi and Zabuza's attention. He was being dragged down the bridge by Sasuke, bound tightly in ninja wire.

"So, employer, mind telling me why you felt the need to bring an army?" Zabuza started, approaching the bound man, radiating an intent to kill that was very scary indeed.

"Fuck you, I should have killed you and that little bitch of yours when you were weak. I should have hired someone more reliable from Mist directly instead of one of the cast off dregs," shouted Gato, already resigned to death but defiant to the last anyway.

"I see," said Zabuza, hefting his sword above his head then swinging down.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he had to quickly jump away from Gato to avoid being cleaved in half himself. He couldn't help watching in morbid fascination as the man was split in half from the top of his head to his stem, the two halves peeling away from each other in a bloody mess.

"Are we done here?" asked Kakashi tiredly, still defensive and prepared for Zabuza to attack anyway.

"That depends on what your genin intend to do with my apprentice there?" the man asked, motioning toward Naruto and Sakura and his bound tool.

Naruto took the immediate hint and picked up Haku. He then carried the effeminate boy forward. Upon reaching Zabuza, he held the unconscious boy. "He's all yours. We just wanted to hold on to him just in case you didn't stop fighting us."

"I fight for money brat. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be draining every last ryo we can from Gato's estate and bank accounts," said Zabuza, vanishing along with Haku in a haze of mist.

"Well that worked out nicely," said Kakashi, sliding his headband back over his single Sharingan eye.

Sasuke smirked. "I have my Sharingan now. It worked out better than just nicely."

"Does this mean we win?" asked Tazuna, nervously.

"Yep, Gato is dead, Zabuza is leaving and you can safely finish your bridge now without worry," said Kakashi. "Of course we'll stay until the bridge is done as we were contracted to do but I don't expect any further trouble.

**Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp**

**Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp**

**Bonus Objective Completed: Awarded 10000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: C-Rank Mission . . . as if.**

**Protect Tazuna through the process of completing his bridge.**

**Objectives:**

**Escort Tazuna safely to Nami no Kuni.**

**Escort Tazuna safely through Nami no Kuni to his home.**

**Train hard and prepare for the return of Zabuza.**

**Prevent the kidnapping of Tsunami and Inari.**

**Eliminate the immediate threat to Tazuna's Family.**

**Arrive at the bridge and assist your team.**

**Defeat Haku.**

**Defeat Gato.**

**Protect Tazuna until the bridge is completed.**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Ambush the ambushers, defeat Gozu and Meizu before they can spring their trap.**

**Discover the Nami Cave and clear it of monsters.**

**Interrogate Gato's thugs for details on the bridge attack.**

**Prevent Haku from sacrificing himself to save Zabuza.**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp per Bonus Objective.**

**50000 Exp upon completion of all Objectives.**

**100000 Ryo upon completion of all Objectives.**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Increase reputation with Nami**

Naruto quickly closed the quest update message, feeling like celebrating but that would have to wait until later. For now, they need to help all the bridge workers.

**You've slept in a bed. HP &amp; CP are 75% restored.**

Last day, that was the only thing Naruto thought as he awoke. It had been a very busy month since the battle on the bridge and Naruto was more than ready to head home.

Once he was unburdened, Tazuna and the villagers were able to get back to work almost non-stop. The energy was back in the town and it felt significantly less dreary as the days passed. One month from their arrival in Nami no Kuni and the bridge had finally been completed and at long last it was time to go.

"Naruto-niichan, Sakura-neechan, Teme-niichan, do you all really have to go?" asked Inari, trying to fight the tears that were starting to form.

Sasuke replied with an "Hn" and walked away.

"He says goodbye and he'll miss you dearly," translated Naruto with a small chuckle of amusement.

Inari giggled. "He's like that."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You need to stop antagonizing Sasuke-kun so much. It's not helpful."

Naruto shrugged. "It's a two way road you know."

"True but you're not doing the team any favors. Anyway, you be good for your mom and the drunk."

"You know it," replied the boy, grinning for his honorary big sister.

Sakura nodded once then jogged to join Sasuke at the end of the bridge while they waited for their sensei.

"Okay, so remember what I taught you," said Naruto, giving the boy a wink.

"Pranks are fun, ramen is kami's gift to man and always protect those you care about," said the boy.

"You got it kid." Naruto ruffled the boys hair with his hat then turned and ran to join his teammates.

Kakashi said his final goodbyes and joined his team.

**Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: C-Rank Mission . . . as if.**

**Protect Tazuna through the process of completing his bridge.**

**Objectives:**

**Escort Tazuna safely to Nami no Kuni.**

**Escort Tazuna safely through Nami no Kuni to his home.**

**Train hard and prepare for the return of Zabuza.**

**Prevent the kidnapping of Tsunami and Inari.**

**Eliminate the immediate threat to Tazuna's Family.**

**Arrive at the bridge and assist your team.**

**Defeat Haku.**

**Defeat Gato.**

**Protect Tazuna until the bridge is completed.**

**Return to safely to Konoha and report to the Hokage.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Ambush the ambushers, defeat Gozu and Meizu before they can spring their trap.**

**Discover the Nami Cave and clear it of monsters.**

**Interrogate Gato's thugs for details on the bridge attack.**

**Prevent Haku from sacrificing himself to save Zabuza.**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp per Objective**

**10000 Exp per Bonus Objective.**

**50000 Exp upon completion of all Objectives.**

**100000 Ryo upon completion of all Objectives.**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**Increase reputation with Nami**

Naruto grinned. He'd survived the quest. Hell, he'd more than survived it, he made the quest his bitch. He exceeded all of his own expectations for what may have ended up turning into an absolute nightmare.

"Are we finally ready to leave this wet mess of a country?" asked Kakashi, walking up to the waiting trio.

"Hell yeah!" shouted Naruto.

"Right then, let's go," ordered Kakashi, leaping ahead of them, leading the way back to Konoha.

They were only a few kilometer from the newly finished bridge when Kakashi halted the group and with good reason. Standing ahead of them on the road was Zabuza and Haku.

Naruto was trying to figure out what was going on, he thought that their differences had been resolved but apparently Zabuza still had business with them.

"What do you want?" demanded Kakashi, immediately uncovering his Sharingan eye.

Zabuza sighed and nudged Haku forward. "It was your request. You tell them."

Haku hesitantly stepped forward. "We understand that Tazuna-san lied about the mission and because of that, Nami is going to be penalized quite severely. We were able to loot more than enough from Gato to suit our purposes in working for him and would like to pay their penalty." The boy held out a scroll and set it on the ground then opened it revealing a neat clean stack of money. 10000000 Ryo to be exact, more than enough to cover the cost.

"They deserve a chance to rebuild without such an overwhelming debt outstanding," said Haku.

Zabuza scoffed. "You're still too soft hearted, brat."

"I'm sorry, Zabuza-sama."

"Whatever, you've said your piece now let's go."

"Where will you go now?" Naruto asked before they could disappear.

"Mizu no Kuni, we've accumulated enough funds now to help the rebellion properly arm itself and win the civil war," said Zabuza, not bothering to look at Naruto, his eyes were fixed squarely on Kakashi as if waiting for a battle to break out again.

"Good luck, I hope you can stop the bloodline purges," said Sasuke, surprising everyone there.

"Heh, I like you kid. Don't get dead too soon. I'd like to fight you someday when you're not such a weakling," said Zabuza. The man put a hand on Haku's shoulder and the pair again vanished into a sudden mist that wasn't there seconds before then.

"Okay then," said Kakashi, resealing the money and pocketing the scroll. "Let's try this again. Let's go home."

The return trip was a lot faster than the trip there simply because there was no civilian slowing them down. What took almost a week the first time was shortened to just two and half days travel.

They were a tired and ragged bunch when they arrived back in the village but the sense of accomplishment wasn't diminished in the slightest. They had really done something great.

"Okay, we need to give the Hokage our report then I'll be giving you a week off to rest and recover," said Kakashi. The man led them through the gates only stopping briefly to sign them back into the village before proceed directly to the Hokage's office.

Naruto expected high praise for accomplishing such a high level mission, but the anger in the old man's eyes as he yelled at them all for the better part of an hour was not. He understood that they had technically broken the rules by continuing the mission when things had turned so badly. He even understood the danger they put themselves in. But he didn't understand how the old man couldn't hold even an ounce of pride in his shinobi for exceeding their ability and achieving something so unbelievable.

"I don't get it," Naruto finally said not being able to take it anymore. "We did something good here. We saved an entire country, stopped a really bad guy from destabilizing an entire region, something that may have spilled into Hi no Kuni too. Why aren't you proud of us? Even a little?"

"Do not mistake my anger for your poor decision making for a lack of pride in my shinobi," said the old man firmly. "You made a foolish decision that could have cost you all dearly. That you survived, let alone fulfilled the mission requirements, above and beyond that even, is nothing short of a miracle. I'm proud that you did so well but if you ever do something so stupid again, I'll see all four of you sent back to the academy for remedial training. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the four immediately replied upon sensing there was no joke in the threat to send them back the academy.

"Good, now get out," he ordered.

Naruto was about to say something but Kakashi's hand over his mouth prevented it in addition to being dragged from the room immediately.

"Right then, get lost you three. I'll see you in a week as planned," said Kakashi, disappearing in puff of smoke.

**Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp**

**All Objectives Completed: Awarded 50000 Exp**

**100000 Ryo**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto grinned, he'd hit level 25. That one massive mission had netted him three levels, three bad ass levels at that. It was winning even if he saw Sasuke and Sakura both gain a level at the same time. Sasuke earning level 25 as well and Sakura earning level 22.

"So, anyone hungry?" asked Sakura.

"I could eat," said Sasuke. "But no ramen."

"What!" shouted Naruto. "How could you say no ramen? What is wrong with you?"

"Fine, then eat on your own," said Sasuke, turning to leave.

"Fine, fine, where do you want to go?" asked Naruto, slightly nervous about which restaurants would accept him.

"Yakitori-ya," said Sasuke, walking ahead toward the restaurant in question without stopping to wait for them.

Naruto rolled his eyes but went along anyway. He just had to hope he wouldn't have problems with his reputation at the place.

The late afternoon meal was nice and when it was done they all went their separate ways, Naruto home to rest for a day before he'd have to start training all over again the next morning because he had no doubt that Shikamaru and Chouji would be breaking down his door in the morning if Sakura didn't get there first.

He had a lot of bonus stat points earn and he'd be damned if didn't get them all by the time his team all met up again.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV25** Next Level: **5.44%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **4160/4160

**CP: **3241/3241

**STR: **60 (41.00) = 101.00

**VIT: **55 (111.00) = 166.00

**DEX: **60 (22.00) = 82.00

**INT: **57 (17.13) = 74.13

**WIS: **50 (31.25) = 81.25

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **219 (54.75) = 273.75

**SPD: **10 (62.00) = 72.00

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **5

**Ryo: **536000

**[Well Rounded (Passive) LvMax] **

Allows the user to gain an extra bonus stat point for every five levels he's earned.

**[Tree Climbing (Passive) Lv32 2.35% CP: 5 per 5 seconds]**

By using your chakra to stick to surfaces you can now move more freely and better use your chakra.

Passively increases WIS 26%

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 26%

**[Water Walking (Passive) Lv17 52.36% CP: 20 per 5 seconds]**

By expelling chakra from your feet to repel the watery surface to are able to stand firmly upon it.

Passively increases WIS 14%

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 13%

**[Raiton Affinity (Passive) Lv22 Exp: 18.54%]**

The ability to manipulate and control lightning style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Raiton effects 22%.

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu (Active) Lv40 Exp: 47.89% HP: 3 per second]**

Manipulate raiton chakra to stimulate the production of chakra within your body.

Additional 40 CP regenerated per second while active.

**[Doton Affinity (Passive) Lv15 Exp: 13.36%]**

The ability to manipulate and control earth style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Doton effects 15%.

**[Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu (Active) Lv27 Exp 10.02% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Manipulate the earth and stone around you to encase yourself in a thin armor of earth providing enhanced defense.

Additional +140 DEF when active.

**[Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu (Active) Lv10 Exp: 76.31% CP: 45]**

A D-Rank ninjutsu. You can now spit a ball of mud at high speed to damage an opponent. Damage and accuracy increases the closer you are to your target. Deals Blunt Damage 40-80

**[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Active) Lv39 Exp: 84.11% CP: ½ total CP]**

Kage Bunshin are corporeal copies capable of everything you are include fighting, using jutsu and learning new things. The first kage bunshin will reduce your CP by ½ and each additional kage bunshin's thereafter will reduce the kage bunshin's CP by ½. For example, if you have CP: 2000, one kage bunshin will have CP: 1000, but one hundred Kage Bunshin will have CP: 10. Kage bunshin will dispel with one solid hit or when they run out of chakra, if they die by being hit, the unused CP will return to your CP pool.

Passively increases chances for a Kage Bunshin to survive a direct hit by 3%.

Passively increases the skill experience gained by each Kage Bunshin by** 10%.**


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: I've had a number of questions about the passive buffs and if they stack and they do. For example, if he gains +15% WIS from Tree Climbing and +5% WIS from Water Walking he gains a total +20%.

A/N2: I've also gotten several questions about the origin of Naruto's Gamer ability. Have a little faith, I have a plan and it's kind of bad ass if I do say so myself. That said it won't be revealed for a quite a while so please have patience.

A/N3: Last note, several people have asked about the SPD stat. Mostly how everyone is faster than Naruto but you have to remember when we see other people's stat you are getting their total stat, not just the base stat. Naruto's [Observe] is not capable of seeing all the various modifiers that impact other's stats. That said, Naruto still has a lot to learn.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto awoke and prepared for the new day to come. After a quick cold shower and freshly cleaned teeth, Naruto ate a quick breakfast of rice and grilled fish, a recipe he'd learned in Nami and one he'd come to really enjoy.

**[Rice and Grilled Fish]**

Restores 1000 HP

+50 VIT &amp; +20 DEX for 60 minutes

As to the source of the fish, well that was another life skill he'd picked up in Nami no Kuni.

**[Fishing (Active) Lv13 Exp: 13.12% CP 5]**

There is something rewarding in catching your own food and the bountiful waters of the elemental nations have plenty to spare if you've got the time and the patience.

Additional 13% chance to catch edible fish.

As a result he'd stockpiled a lot of horse mackerel and salmon in his inventory. Speaking of, he'd need to sell most of it off as soon as possible so it doesn't turn bad on him. That was something else he'd learned about his inventory, food still had an expiration date, it didn't really put things in stasis. Which brought him back to needing to get back in the habit of doing dailies.

Naruto groaned at the thought of getting back into the daily grind after having such a great experience on Nami no Kuni mission. Not necessarily the mission itself but the training time, the pure unadulterated, uninterrupted training time. No dailies to eat up time with stupid chores. Just training and a dungeon with someone that was becoming a decent friend . . . okay so Sakura was still bitchy sometimes but she at least seemed to have developed a little respect for him. It was a start.

Speaking of Sakura, Naruto felt that he'd finally moved on from his crush on her. She was his friend sure but that was it. After having spent so much time with her, every day for the last month, closer to two months, he'd gotten to know her a lot better. She was very girly, too girly for his tastes. She complained constantly about everything, and if something went even a little wrong she'd complain even louder and longer about it. She like flowers and shopping and pretty clothes and jewelry. Naruto like weapons, training and video games.

Then there was the fact that the only thing they had in common was being a shinobi and even then she didn't take it as seriously as Naruto did. She was in it to protect herself and her family, a bit selfish but still a good reason. If Naruto had been asked a year ago why he was becoming a shinobi he would have said it was to gain respect so that people would stop looking down on him. Now, he could honestly say it was the 'Will of Fire' the old man preached to him about all the time. He had an iron will to protect everyone, his team, his friends, even the villagers who didn't tend to treat him very well. He would still earn their respect if he could but even if he couldn't, he'd protect them all until the day he died.

Naruto was a little sad when he realized it but not heartbroken like he'd expected to be. Still, it was probably for the best in the long run, especially since they were going to be teammates for a long time.

Naruto finished his breakfast and his self-reflection and left his apartment only to be ambushed by his landlord, Michiya Ota.

"You're two months behind on rent, pay me by the end of the day or you're out," stated the grouchy old man.

Naruto wanted badly to hammer the man's head through a wall but refrained. He would take the mission and get the problem resolved.

"I'll take care of the rats in the basement again," said Naruto.

"And that will cover one month of your rent, what about the other two months?"

"What other two months?" demanded Naruto.

"You owe for last month, and this month plus the one month late fee," explained the old man, grinning a little.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Naruto.

"Fix the water heater."

Naruto gave the man a deadpan look, he really wanted to kill him. "Is that all?"

"Yeah," he then turned and left.

**Quest Alert**

**Rent is due: Pay Rent**

**Rent must be paid by 6:00 pm or you will be evicted. Pay the landlord 1000 ryo by 6:00 pm or clear out the chakra rat nest in the basement by 6:00 pm (must bring their tails as proof of kill). **

**Completion Award: 500 Exp.**

**Increase reputation with landlord (reputation increase will double for clearing out the chakra rat nest).**

**Completion Failure: Eviction**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

Naruto accepted with a roll of the eyes. Then the second quest window appeared.

**Quest Alert**

**Rent is past due: Pay Rent**

**Rent must be paid by 6:00 pm or you will be evicted. The landlord requires the building hot water heater be repaired in exchange for back rent and the late penalty.**

**Completion Award: 5000 Exp.**

**Increase reputation with landlord.**

**Completion Failure: Eviction**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

And again, Naruto accepted. It also meant he'd have to go to the general store and see if he could get a day shopping pass again. Then he'd have to stock up on skill books for home maintenance.

So, Naruto's plans for the day were altered by the need to get work done. It took about an hour and a half for Naruto to complete all of his daily quests in the market district including the harder quest at the General Store for the shopping pass.

After that Naruto bought every last booked he could get his hands on at the store.

**[Intermediate Home Repair and Maintenance] Skill Book.**

**[Advanced Home Repair and Maintenance] Skill Book.**

**[Water Heater Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Window Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Floor Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Ceiling Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Interior Wall Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Exterior Wall Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Foundation Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Roof Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Electrical Wiring Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Electrical Switch Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Electrical Outlet Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Electrical Fuse Box Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Electrical Lighting Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Electrical Heating Repair] Skill Book. **

**[Air Conditioning Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Duct Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Furnace Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Furniture Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Upholstery Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Stovetop Burner Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Oven Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Bathroom Tile Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Shower Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Refrigerator Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Tatami Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Beginner Home Painting] Skill Book.**

**[Intermediate Home Painting] Skill Book.**

**[Advanced Home Painting] Skill Book.**

**[Plaster Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Masonry Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Cement Repair] Skill Book.**

**[Beginner Demolition] Skill Book.**

**[Intermediate Demolition] Skill Book.**

**[Advanced Demolition] Skill Book.**

Naruto carried the rather heavy load of skill books to the counter, thirty-six books in all. Some of them wouldn't even apply to his situation but he'd be damned if he didn't get this particular skill leveled as high as he could at this point.

The clerk still sneered at him but happily rang up his purchases then charged him the 18000 Ryo the books would cost him.

Naruto paid and walked out of the store and into an ally. Naruto started picking up the books one by one and learning them if he could. He'd learn three books and got an 'LvMax' warning so he picked up the intermediate skill book and learned it. He then started going through the books again. Another nineteen books and he got another 'LvMax' so he grabbed the advanced skill book unlocking more levels. Then he polished off the last twelve books.

**[Home Repair and Maintenance (Active) Lv52 Exp: 0.00 CP: 5]**

**Everyman should know how to fix the things around home that break. It's amazing how much can be done with just a hammer and nails.**

**Additional 50% to [Home Repair and Maintenance] speed when active.**

And now that Naruto knew everything he'd need to know to fix his buildings water heater he went back into the General Store to get parts. It cost him another 10000 Ryo to get an assortment of parts that based on his knowledge would be able to fix anything wrong with the water heater except a giant hole in it which would require replacing it, he finally headed back to his apartment.

Naruto cleared out the rats effortlessly gaining no experience from any of them, not even the king. With the rats dead, Naruto went to work on the water heater. Thankfully there wasn't a giant hole in it or even a leak. The pilot had to be replaced to make it work but Naruto decided to use all the parts he bought anyway and replace several pieces that were obviously worn and on the verge of failing. In the end, he'd gained three more levels to his [Home Repair and Maintenance] skill and even better, he would now have hot water in the morning.

Naruto stepped back from the water heater, appreciating his work. It really was a good bit of work. Then he saw something odd, the water heater had a health bar. He hadn't even noticed it or maybe he couldn't see it before but he now saw it had a health bar. Except it wasn't exactly a health par, it was a quality bar. This quality bar was hovering around 63% and had a status below it labeled 'Functional'. Naruto shook his head once as he had yet another thing to deal with thanks to the game but for now it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Naruto took a moment to look around the rest of the basement, his mind automatically spotting several things in need of repair, important things like the fuse box that the rats had been using bit of wire from to build their nests, the building furnace that looked as if it hadn't run in years, there were several cracks and gaps in the building foundation that need a lot of repair, it was also probably why all the damned chakra rats kept getting in, not to mention the flickering lights overhead that were no doubt suffering both the bad fuse box and the rats. All of them showing to be in poor quality, many of them with a status of 'Non-Functional'. Still, it wasn't stuff Naruto was going to fix, he didn't have a reason to fix up a building that was destined for destruction in a few years anyway. And if he played his cards right and built up his reputation he'd be able to buy a nicer apartment in a year or two.

Naruto packed up his tools and collect the trash from his repairs and left the basement, tossing the trash in the bin outside on his way to turn in the quest with the building manager.

"Okay, it's done you stingy old bastard," snapped Naruto at the old man.

"Good, then you can consider your rent caught up and paid," said Ota. The old man turned and walked away without another word. He really was a rude old bastard.

Naruto went right back out from his apartment building, this time in an effort to find Shikamaru and Chouji. He checked the usual spots the pair tended to hang out at starting with Yakiniku-Q then the Shogi Park and a few of Shikamaru's favorite cloud watching spots before finally deciding to try their clan houses.

"Hi, I'm looking for Shikamaru," said Naruto, looking at one of the clan compound guards just outside the Nara clan gates.

"He's not in," replied the guard, there was no malice in his reply.

"Is he on a mission?"

"I believe he went to see the Akimichi clan heir."

"Thanks," replied Naruto, it was his smoothest conversation with one the Nara clan guards yet. And it made him slightly suspicious given his history with them.

It didn't take long for Naruto to get to Chouji's house. Unlike the Nara clan with their large compound the Akimichi had more of a neighborhood, no gates or walls or guards, they did have a patrol but it was pretty lax.

"Hello Naruto-kun," greeted Chouji's mom. Naruto had met the woman many times by now and was always surprise by just how nice the woman really was, even to him.

"Hello Akimichi-san, are Chouji and Shikamaru here?"

"You just missed them. They were going to meet with Ino-chan and then go train," she replied.

"Thank you," said Naruto, hoping to get away quickly. As nice as the woman was she definitely had the gift of gab, her status even said so.

"How was your big mission? Everything go okay?"

"Yeah, it was awesome. I'll have to tell you all about it sometime soon but right now I'm dying to get in some training with my friends."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now you go have fun with those boys, just try not to get into too much trouble," she said, motioning for him to get moving.

"Right, later then," said Naruto, smiling for the kindly woman.

After that it took Naruto about ten minutes to get to the Yamanaka Flowers. He arrived just in time to see all of team 10, sans sensei, coming out of the shop.

"Yo," greeted Naruto with a smile for his friend.

"Naruto, welcome back," said Chouji first. "How was your trip?"

"In the words of Shikamaru, troublesome," he replied with a grin. "But it was awesome anyway. I'll have to tell you all about it. Where are you guys headed now?"

"Training," answered Shikamaru. "We've been forcing Ino to train with us while you've been gone."

"Who is forcing who?" demanded Ino.

"Fine, Ino demanded we start training with her," explained Shikamaru.

"Mind if I join you guys?" asked Naruto.

Shikamaru smirked. "Sure."

Chouji had his own grin.

Naruto wordlessly formed a team and invited the pair.

"Damn it, Naruto, you got a lot stronger. What the hell kind of mission were you on?" asked Chouji, his grin fading.

"How the hell can you tell?" asked Ino.

"We just can," said Shikamaru. "We've trained together long enough to be able to tell." Ino bought his explanation perfectly.

"There you are, Naruto. I've been looking everywhere for you. Do you know your landlord is a complete asshole?" asked Sakura, walking up to the group.

"Yeah, I'm aware. So what's up? You want to join us for training?"

"Sure," said Sakura.

Naruto invited her to the party.

"She knows?" asked Chouji.

"Figured it out," Sakura answered.

"Sort of figured it out, like you did Shikamaru."

"I get the feeling there is a hidden conversation going on right now that I'm not part of," said Ino, mostly being ignored.

"And?"

"It's kind of awesome," said Sakura.

"Anyway, this should make for a really good group. Sakura-chan has become quite the iryonin," boasted Naruto on his friend's behalf.

"Oh really, forehead has finally shown a little skill huh?" asked Ino.

"Careful, Ino, she's a lot stronger than you are now," said Naruto, smiling.

"Ha, as if," said Ino. "Once a book worm, always a book worm."

"Ino, be nice," Chouji chided her. "We're all Konoha shinobi here, let's act like it. Now, are we all ready to get some training done today?"

"I suppose," said Shikamaru.

"Fine," said Ino, not meeting his eyes.

"I'm ready," said Sakura.

"Sure, and when we finish we can all go for a nice big meal," suggested Chouji.

"So, where have you guys been training at?" asked Naruto.

"Mostly field 12 and 13, field 11 just got to be way too easy," answered Shikamaru.

"So field 14 or 15 then?" asked Naruto. It would probably be too easy for Naruto at this point but with so many people it would not be a bad idea to try a lower level field first before trying something potentially more dangerous.

"Do we know what's in either field?" asked Sakura.

"No idea, but that's half the fun isn't it?" asked Naruto excitedly.

"Troublesome," complained Shikamaru.

"Isn't fourteen the old battlefield?" asked Ino, a slight quaver in her voice.

"Yeah, so?"

"Isn't that place haunted?"

"Right, then field fifteen it is," said Naruto, his old fear of ghosts kicking up instantly.

"Wimp," teased Sakura.

Naruto was tempted to retort and make them go to fourteen after her taunt but he resisted the urge if just barely. He leveled a withering glare at her instead to which she just smirked.

"Let's just go," said Shikamaru.

Naruto nodded then leaped up to the nearest roof top then moving east trailed by his teammate and friends. It didn't take long to reach the training field in question. It was a swampy terrain, made to simulate exactly that.

**Training Field 15 – **This swamp was designed to simulate possible combat scenarios that played out in the first shinobi world war. This area is still rife with snakes and alligators looking for their next meal. If they don't get you the quicksand just might so it's best to watch your step. Recommended Level: 14.

"This should be fun," said Shikamaru flatly.

"I am not going in there," stated Ino. "This is a designer kunoichi battle dress from Tsuki no Kuni. Do you have any idea how much this cost me. It will get destroyed in there. I won't do it."

"So, she's still extremely vain. I guess not all things change after academy," taunted Naruto. Her status did indeed still include vain and he'd be damned if he didn't make even a little effort to break her of it. Hell, he'd broken Sakura of her Fangirl ways, vain had to be a hundred times easier.

Ino's eyebrow twitched. "I am not vain!"

"Oh please," said Sakura. "You are so vain. How long did you spend on your hair and choosing your dress this morning?"

"A few . . . hours but that does not make me vain."

"Ino, you're a shinobi, if it takes you more than a minute to dress and prepare for combat then you're wrong," stated Sakura.

"Easy for you to say billboard brow. There's nothing for anyone to see on you," said Ino.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "At least I don't look like a slut."

Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji all wisely stepped back from the two that were on the verge of coming to blows.

"Bitch!"

"Skank!"

"Whore!"

"Ugly!"

"Deformed!"

"Name calling?" Naruto whispered to Shikamaru questioningly.

"Troublesome," he whispered back.

"Fashion mistake!"

"You take that back," hissed Ino, ready to really attack now.

Sakura smirked in victory. "What's wrong? Can't face the truth that not only are you vain but you're also fashion impaired? Not even a serious kunoichi."

Ino's face turned nearly as purple as her clothing as the blood pooled and darkened in her anger. "Like you have room to talk, Fangirl."

Sakura laughed at this one. "I was a Fangirl. No doubt about it but I've had . . . I guess you could call it a harsh awakening. I've worked my ass off since I became a shinobi to change myself. Clearly you haven't."

Ino glared, anger could be felt radiating from the young woman. "I don't have to prove anything to you."

"No, you don't. You have to prove it to all of us. We all have to be able to trust you so that when our lives are on the line, you're going to be there to protect us just like we'd protect you. Regardless if it gets a bit messy in the process," interrupted Naruto, seeing the time to butt in before it really did come to blows.

Naruto seemed to have developed a knack for saying things harshly that also seemed to motivate others.

Ino was silent for a full minute before she responded. "Fine, let's just get this training field over with."

"And your precious dress?" asked Sakura.

"It's just a dress," she replied with a shrug, trying to put on a tough act.

Naruto groaned. He slipped off his jacket and held it out to her. It was long enough that it should protect her dress from most damage. "I want it back when we finish here."

"I'm not wearing that disgusting jacket."

"Put it on," ordered Naruto, brooking no room for argument.

Ino shied at being ordered so harshly but did as she was told, slipping the jacket on, it was about a size too large for her and rather heavy but it would indeed protect her precious dress. She quickly zipped it up and rolled the sleeve a few times to give her better access to her hands.

Naruto was left wearing his white tank top, fully exposing his shoulders and arms, even if the forearms were covered with armor. He didn't like feeling so exposed but it could have been worse.

"Okay, so Chouji, you're on point, Naruto will be your immediate back," Shikamaru started setting up their formation. "Sakura, I want you to follow them but not too closely, you're our only healer and that means you need to stay alive no matter what. Ino, you and I will take the trail positions, it will be our job to do damage to any chakra mutations that pop up here. I would expect snakes and possibly alligators but you never can tell." Shikamaru added the last detail for Ino's benefit alone, the rest of them had seen the message when they entered the field.

The first chakra mutation they came across was a snake as expected. The snake being as thick as Naruto and ten times longer was not expected.

**Anaconda Lvl 13**

**HP: 2200/2200 CP: 100/100**

**This snake is not only fast growing but also quite fast. Also be wary of his venom, it is very deadly.**

"So, I'm guessing poisonous and probably very fast."

"Fast, look how big it is. How can it be fast?" asked Ino.

"It's all muscle," answered Sakura. "But it's an Anaconda, it shouldn't be venomous at all. Anaconda's are constricting snakes."

"Constricting?" asked Naruto, watching the thankfully sleeping snake.

"It means that it will squeeze you to death," she simplified.

"Right then, any plans?" asked Chouji, arming himself.

Naruto shrugged and leapt skyward, one kunai out and charged with chakra. He landed, slicing the head off the snake cleanly and killing it in one hit. "Not really necessary," Naruto said with a confident smirk.

"Troublesome," groaned Shikamaru. "What about the other five you just woke up?"

Naruto turned to look and indeed there were five more that he had just landed in the middle of. He never even saw them, even with his gamer ability, they were perfectly camouflaged to their surroundings.

"I just jumped into a trap, didn't I?" asked Naruto, suddenly ducking under the first snake then leaping over the next two only to be smacked away by the tail of a fourth. The tail didn't actually hurt that much, the tree that stopped him did, especially the small branch he impaled his shoulder through.

"Troublesome," complained Shikamaru again, his shadow quickly binding the snakes. "Chouji, start stomping them. Sakura, see if you can get Naruto off that tree and heal him. Ino, throw kunai into the snakes' eyes and try to blind them, it will at least dull their senses."

The group quickly followed orders, killing snakes, even Naruto joined back in after Sakura healed him. So that first group died quickly enough despite Naruto's rash decision.

"Sorry guys, I'll be more cautious in the future," said Naruto sheepishly.

"Oh, they left their fangs behind," said Sakura, moving quickly to gather them up.

"What would we want with their fangs?" asked Ino.

"Venom," replied Sakura, as if it was obvious. "We can extract some of their venom from the fangs. It won't be much but more than enough to coat a kunai or katana or whatever really."

"Okay, so maybe they are worth it," said Ino. "But how do we divide them up. There are five of us and twelve fangs."

"We wait until the end. I'm sure there a lot more snakes around here. I'm sure we'll kill plenty before we leave here," said Sakura.

Ino frowned at herself for such an obvious thing to miss. She was clearly still rattled from their earlier conversation. Even worse was seeing Sakura at work, she really had become a very good iryonin.

"Let's move on, we still have to meet Asuma-sensei after lunch," called Shikamaru, snapping Ino out of her reverie and getting the other up and moving again.

They continued deeper into the swamp, eventually coming across another group of snakes and killing them, even faster than the first group and claimed twelve more fangs. However, this time when they moved to go on the water rippled slightly causing Naruto to jumped back and pull Chouji with him.

"What is it?"

"The water, something is moving in it."

"Yeah, fish you moron," said Ino.

Naruto ignored Ino. He starred hard into the water, trying to see through its murky depths when he caught sight of something big. This time he tackled the whole group back as the thing shot out of water like a giant missile, its mouth big enough to eat any one of them whole. It landed with a heavy thud before swing around to face them. The alligator was huge, its skin was black as night and its eyes glowed an eerie yellow that warned of danger.

"That is a big purse waiting to happen," said Naruto, being the first up to his feet.

**Oversized Alligator Lvl 17**

**HP: 4500/4500 CP: 100/100**

**Big, deadly, and hungry, not a very healthy combination for any fool wandering the swamp to come across, once this beast has taken a bite it will never let go.**

"Purse?" asked Ino, popping up first only to faint upon seeing the leathery lizard lingering before them.

"Right, she's useless," groused Naruto. "Shika, can you pull her out of the way. This guy is going to be tough to put down and we're going to need some space to do it."

"It doesn't have much chakra but that is a lot of HP," Sakura commented, climbing back to her feet.

Naruto spat a few mud balls at it to see how tough it was. Seeing the mud hit and the alligator's skin depress but not break or bruise was disheartening. Seeing so little of its HP fall was even more so.

"Could this be the boss already?" asked Chouji.

"No way," said Shikamaru. "Think Mama Boar."

"I sure as hell don't want to see this things version of a Papa Boar," said Chouji, shuddering slightly.

"I do," said Naruto with a grin. He'd successfully pissed off the alligator as it was now attacking him with reckless abandon. It didn't seem to have a lot of skills or abilities, it just chased whoever made it mad trying to eat them. Naruto happened to be pretty good and making beasts mad and he wasn't too bad at avoiding being eaten either.

So it was a very slow kill or it would have been if the alligator didn't turn and run away down the path as soon as its HP dropped under four thousand.

"It ran away?" asked Naruto, clearly confused. "I've never seen a mutation just turn and run like that."

"This could be a problem," said Shikamaru.

"Guys," said Chouji, a shaky finger pointing down the path toward where the alligator ran.

Naruto and Shikamaru both looked to see at least a dozen snakes rushing down the path toward them.

"It sent minions?" asked Chouji?"

"Chouji, you've been playing too many games lately," said Shikamaru.

"Sakura, wake up Ino, we can't protect her and fight this many at the same time," ordered Naruto, already forming a dozen clone and sending them ahead to both slow the snakes down and maybe kill one or two while he was at it.

Naruto's clones succeeded in slowing them but only killed one snake. Chouji stopped them all in their slithery tracks, stomping a giant foot upturning the swampy terrain. It didn't last long but it gave Naruto and Shikamaru time to bombard the snake pile with fireballs and mud balls, killing a few and damaging others. Naruto followed it up with a hail of kunai with explosive tags wrapped around the handles.

By the time the snakes got to them there were only three of them left and they were all fairly injured. It didn't take long after that to finish them off with Ino and Sakura peppering them from a distance while Naruto and Chouji kept their attention on them.

"Sakura, heal up Chouji and replenish your chakra then heal yourself," ordered Naruto. "I think we have a small breather."

Sakura nodded her agreement and went to work. Chouji had some abrasions from his efforts in stopping the snakes initially, it was nothing life threatening but it was precautionary measure.

The group followed the path trampled by the snakes and alligator. When they came to the next clearing the alligator was waiting for them, now with some kind of shiny metal plate covered in jagged, sharpened spikes on its head.

Naruto would have groaned at the alligator if he'd had time to do so. The alligator charged wildly at the group, its head digging a trench through the soft ground.

The group scattered from its path dodging the potential damage they might suffer.

The Alligator's charge didn't stop until hit rammed into a mangrove tree stopping it in its tracks. It took a few wobbly steps back from the tree then shook its head once then turned, glaring at Ino.

Naruto noticed the alligator's HP had dropped about fifty points after hitting the tree. "Ino, dodge. Everyone, find a tree, when it charges you dodge. It does more damage to itself than our weapons."

Everyone found a mangrove to stand in front of and it was just a matter of dodging the moronic alligator. When it's health dropped another thousand it roared loudly then turn and ran again, trampling another path in the swamp for them to follow.

Naruto was instantly on guard in front of the path the alligator trampled. He was right to do so, another dozen snakes were headed right for them. Though this time they were better prepared. The snakes never stood a chance.

"Anyone else getting the feeling this gator is going to keep doing this until we kill it?" asked Sakura.

"Anyone else wondering where it's getting armor from?" asked Ino.

"Is anyone really surprised that Konoha training fields are completely fucked up?" asked Naruto. It was a fair question, how any of them could expect anything other than weird was . . . well . . . weird.

"Troublesome."

"Shikamaru, say it again. I dare you," challenged Ino, glaring at the not-so-lazy genius.

Shikamaru sighed but refrained from saying anything.

"Let's move on," said Naruto, walking first toward the path. Chouji quickly over took him, taking his spot in the front of the line.

Another clearing and the gator was waiting for them. This time it was wearing more armor, all the way down its spine, covering its tail, the tip of which was now a morning star-like ball of spikes.

"Chouji, Naruto, it's not very smart, hit and run from one end of the field to the other but don't let it get close to or it will tear you apart."

"How do we kill it?" asked Chouji.

"Its belly is still unprotect," said Sakura.

"So explosive tags along the path it's running?" asked Ino.

"Yeah, but you'll have to time it well or me and Chouji are screwed," said Naruto.

"We have a plan, let's execute," said Shikamaru, starting to prep his kunai with an explosive tag.

Ino and Sakura followed Shikamaru's example while Chouji and Naruto both charged in first, prepared to piss off the giant black alligator.

Naruto started it out, blasting it in the fast with a few mud bullets, doing almost no damage thanks to the bastard's armor.

After the initial pull it was relatively easy to kite the ugly gator around the field. Damaging it was less easy. The timing of the explosive tags was not good early on in the fight but as they got into more of a pattern the damage became more frequent and just more of it.

"One more pass should finish it off," said Shikamaru, breathing heavily. Even with Naruto and Chouji kiting the beast all over the field, himself, Sakura and Ino found themselves running just as much, every time their tags did a big shot of damage the alligator would go wild running randomly thrashing about damaging anything he could. There were some very close calls, Shikamaru even came close to getting beheaded once.

The last of the explosive tags detonated dropping the alligators hit points to just a single point. It roared in pain, spewing blood. It turned and limped away looking utterly defeated.

"Where is it going now?" asked Ino. "And why isn't he dead yet?"

"He is dead," said Shikamaru. "He knows it too."

"Do we follow?" asked Ino.

Naruto didn't answer but followed anyway. The beast was dangerous, he needed to be sure it died.

They found the alligator fallen, heaving its last few breaths.

"Chisai Ao," cried a young man, hugging the dying alligator. "Who would do this? Who would harm you so, my precious friend? My Little Blue alligator"

Naruto was shocked to see someone there. He was probably three or four years older than they were. He wore a black leather alligator skin jacket and pants. On his forehead was a Konoha forehead protector. Above his head was a name.

**Wani Washi Lvl 20**

"You," he hissed, seeing Naruto for the first time. "You did this? How could an ally? A Konoha Shinobi no less, do this? I am the last of the Wani clan and you have slaughtered my partner. My shinobi life is destroyed. Now I will kill you before I commit seppuku, my partner will be avenged."

"Uh, your partner just tried to eat me and my friends. What did you think would happen?"

"Little Blue was harmless, you must have provoked him, tried to hurt him first. You cannot talk your way out of this. I will kill you now. May the Shinigami torture you and your comrades for eternity."

"This is totally fucked up," groused Naruto. "Dude, we don't want to fight you."

"You don't have a choice," said the young man, vanishing only to reappear right in front of Naruto.

Naruto took a heavy blow to his stomach and the side of his face which gave Shikamaru a chance to grab Washi with his shadow.

"Will you stop this now?" Naruto asked, stepping back from Washi.

"I will never stop," he hissed, his chakra flaring suddenly, freeing himself from the bind. "Waninin no Jutsu." He nearly shouted. The man's body began to shift dramatically, first his face elongated turning into that of an alligator with pale leathery skin. He then hunched over slightly, as a ridge along his back popped out, protruding from the back of his jacket then a long thick tail suddenly burst from his lower back. His jutsu finished leaving him looking like some manner of man alligator hybrid.

Washi's transformation had the added effect of changing his level from twenty to thirty. This guy's level was way too high to be in this particular field if he was part of this pseudo dungeon. So either they stumbled into something they shouldn't have or this was a really messed up training field, more so than any of the fields he'd run thus far.

"My shadow bind can't grab him anymore," said Shikamaru, warning the team.

"I'll take first crack at him, keep him busy while you guys make a plan to deal with him," said Naruto, knowing that he had the best chance of surviving.

**Wani Washi Lvl 30**

**HP: 2500/2500 CP: 1250/1250**

**Washi is the last of his clan, he holds a close bond with Chisai Ao, an alligator he has raised since it hatch. His clan is known for the bond they share with alligators, it is similar to that of an Inuzuka and ninken though much more volatile and even more dangerous. Beware their transformation, for they cannot tell friend from foe once complete.**

Naruto attacked first, a flurry of kicks and punches from himself and several clones that spawned to attack and substitute if needed all at once. It wasn't doing much damage but it was keeping his attention.

Washi was quick to fight back with several snaps from his elongated jaw and razor sharp teeth followed by spinning kicks and tail lashes.

Naruto winced when took a tail lash and kick combo to his hip, stomach, and ribs but fought through the pain, being sure to switch with a clone when that particular attack combo came again.

Shikamaru was busy trying to formulate a plan while Naruto kept him busy. "So, we obviously don't want to kill him, he is a Konoha shinobi but we do need to stop him which means knocking him out."

Ino glanced at the fight between Naruto and Washi wincing as Naruto took another fairly brutal attack that probably would have killed her, yet Naruto got right back up and attacked again. "How do you suggest we do that?"

"With this," said Sakura, holding up a vial. "It's a paralytic poison, we dose him with enough of this and he'll be down held long enough for us to hopefully knock him out. We just need to figure out how to dose him with enough of it."

"Ino, do you still have those senbon?" asked Chouji.

"Yeah, why?"

"Didn't Asuma-sensei say they were a great tool for delivering poison 'cause they can penetrate better?"

"Ooh, yeah," said Ino, quickly reaching for the senbon she'd had sitting in her pouch but never bothered to use. "Will they get through that hide of his?"

"Definitely," said Shikamaru. "His skin isn't as thick as the Oversized Alligator we fought earlier, just look, Naruto's been able to cut him a little."

It was true, Naruto had manage to cut the guy a little here and there, mostly on his arms where the scales didn't extend beyond the upper arm.

Ino quickly passed the senbon to Sakura. Sakura then started dipping the needles one by one into the vial before handing them back to Ino and Shikamaru, finally keeping a dozen for herself.

"Chouji, you guard us. If this makes him angry we'll need to keep him off of us until Naruto can get his attention back." Shikamaru twirled the senbon in his hand trying to get the weight of it before tossing one.

Naruto yelped when he felt something suddenly stick him in his left ass cheek. He looked back quickly and saw Shikamaru grimacing.

"Sorry about that," said Shikamaru.

"Aim next time!" shouted Naruto before looking back at the alligator man hybrid. He ducked under Washi's snapping jaw just in time to avoid a bit that would have taken his head off. Unfortunately ducking allowed Washi's follow up tail whip that hit him in the face and send him careening across the swampy terrain.

Naruto was feeling a bit sluggish as he stood. He had to shake his head a few times as he stood again, he was feeling sluggish. "Were those needles poisoned?"

"Yeah, just hold out a little longer," said Sakura.

Naruto nodded slowly, clearly feeling the effects and looked back at Washi to see several needles sticking out of their opponent's arms. He was moving slowly towards Naruto and seemed to be slowing more with each step.

Naruto knew with that with Washi slowed significantly that now would be the time to bombard the boy with mud balls. Naruto ran through hand seals as fast as he could and spat a mud ball.

Washi didn't even register the mud travelling toward him, he was enveloped in his transformation, so when the mud ball hammered into his head knocking him back he didn't care. He cared less when the next three mud balls impacted his chest and arms. He couldn't care anymore as something else hit him with the force of an anvil relieving him of consciousness.

Naruto and the group froze in surprise when a blue leathery ball about the half the size of Washi's whole body burst from the swamp water and impacted the boy knocking him unconscious. Before Washi even hit the ground, his transformation had begun to fade away. They were more surprised when the ball uncurled to the form of another alligator, significantly smaller than the first they fought and this one was completely blue in color.

**Wani Chisai Ao Lvl 20**

They were stunned when the alligator reared up on it hind legs and bowed toward them repeatedly, growling something they were never going to understand. It then turned toward Washi, its stubby front legs and paws picked up Washi, now completely free of his transformation, and proceeded to slap him several time.

"Chisai Ao, is this the afterlife?" the boy groaned, seeing his partner.

Chisai growled at the boy, its tone and inflection changing several times.

"I'm not dead? How are you alive?"

Another series of growls.

"But I saw you die, I held you in my arms."

The alligator slapped him several times again and growls more.

"I thought you'd grown to fight them."

More slaps and more growls.

Washi blushed and scratched the back of his head before turning to look at Naruto and his team.

"This is so embarrassing. I thought you'd killed Chisai Ao."

"You do know that Chisai is blue right? And the other gator was black?" shouted Ino.

"Ah . . . well . . . you see . . . the thing is . . . my clan is color blind because of our relationship to alligators."

Ino had to be restrained, thankfully Shikamaru was way ahead of her and had restrained both her and Sakura, the later more precautionary and thankfully unnecessary.

"I guess I'll be going, sorry for the trouble. Oh, and I guess you can have this for your trouble. I was done learning it anyway," he said, tossing a scroll toward the group. Then together he and Chisai jumped into the swamp and vanished into the murky waters.

"We just let him go?" demanded Ino. "We're totally going to report him right?"

"You can try," said Shikamaru. "No one was really hurt so it's not really a big deal."

"Speak for yourself," said Naruto, he'd lost half of his HP trying to contain the guy and protect his friends while not causing permanent damage to Washi.

"Oh, stop your whining, I'm healing you now, aren't I?" asked Sakura, as she focused on healing Naruto of both the damage he suffered and the poison he'd been inadvertently hit with.

"What's the scroll, Shikamaru?" asked Ino.

"[Suiton: Teppodama no Jutsu]," he answered.

"Is that a water version of my [Doton: Teppodama]?" asked Naruto.

"Pretty much," said Shikamaru. "So, who wants it?"

"Give it to Ino-pig," said Sakura. "She needs something if she's going to be useful in the future."

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru, anticipating the fight that would break out between the two shortly. He held out the scroll to Ino, instantly distracting her from her plans to maim Sakura, or try to at least.

"Thanks, Forehead."

"Check it out," said Chouji. While the group had decided what to do with the scroll, he'd gone to check the body of the Oversized Alligator which had decomposed quickly after it died. In his hands he now held a stack of Ryo and metal plated skull.

"What the hell is that?" asked Ino, pointing to the skull.

Naruto looked at it, activating his [Observe] wordlessly.

**Wani Skull Cap – **The skull of a chakra mutated alligator that has a strong metal plate bonded to it. Imbued with the hardheadedness of the alligator it came from it is also blessed with the strength and resilience of the very gator it came from. Stats: +20 DEF, +20 VIT, +10 STR, DUR 75/75.

"That should definitely go to Chouji," said Naruto. "It has a ton of defense and the chakra imbued in it will enhance his vitality and strength."

"How do you know that?" asked Ino, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Fuinjutsu," Shikamaru covered for him seamlessly. "He can sense chakra enhancements because of it."

"That's kind of cool. Maybe you're not completely useless after all," said Ino, smirking.

"Whatever, Ino-pig," said Sakura, coming to her teammate's defense. "If not for Naruto you'd have been gator food already. Anyway, how much Ryo did we get Chouji?"

"15000, most we've gotten yet," he answered, dividing it up into equal stacks then handing everyone a stack.

"So, now what?" asked Ino.

"Now, we leave this kami forsaken swamp," answered Naruto. Sakura had finished healing him so it was definitely time to go. "Then, Shikamaru and I are long overdue for some Shogi."

"I'm going home to shower," said Ino. "This place is so dirty."

"Jacket first," Naruto ordered, holding out a hand for it.

"When we're out of the swamp," said Ino. "I'm not going this far only to risk getting my dress dirty now."

"Ino-pig, you and I are going to Higurashi's first then you can go home to shower."

"Like hell-"

"You're going," Sakura stated firmly, leaving absolutely no room for argument.

Ino frowned. "Fine, but I won't be wearing anything as ugly as your outfit, you fashion impaired shrew."

"You'll wear it if I say you'll wear it, you purple monstrosity," snapped Sakura.

It was once again quick to descend quickly into pointless bickering between the two but it was completely absent the earlier malice when they started the day. It continued like that all the way out of the swamp.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji all sighed, then shared a shrug before following the girls out of the swamp.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV25** Next Level: **26.54%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **4160/4160

**CP: **3298/3298

**STR: **60 (41.00) = 101.00

**VIT: **55 (111.00) = 166.00

**DEX: **60 (22.00) = 82.00

**INT: **62 (17.75) = 79.75

**WIS: **55 (34.38) = 89.38

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **219 (54.75) = 273.75

**SPD: **10 (62.00) = 72.00

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point:** 5

**Ryo: **539000

**Name: **Nara Shikamaru

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV22** Next Level: **97.12%

**HP: **870/870

**CP: **590/590

**STR: **47

**VIT: **87

**DEX:** 58

**INT:** 59

**WIS: **480

**LUK: **5

**SPD: **54

**Status: Tactical Genius **(+20 WIS per Level, +35% experience gain to all skills),** Shadow Element **(Able to manipulate and control shadows, -15% cost to kage jutsu, +10 control to kage jutsu),** Natural Leader **(+25% to experience gain to [Advanced Tactics] Skill)

**Akimichi Chouji**

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV21** Next Level: **74.12%

**HP: **2230/2230

**CP: **440/440

**STR: **148

**VIT: **55

**DEX: **30

**INT: **44

**WIS: **41

**LUK: **4

**SPD: **34

**Status: Hulk **(+80 HP &amp; +5 STR per level, -10 DEX),** Connoisseur** (+15% effectiveness of [Cooking] Skill, +25% experience gain to [Cooking] Skill),** Faithful Friend **(+10% to all stats when in team with 'Exalted' friend)

**Name: **Yamanaka Ino

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV20** Next Level: **99.74%

**HP: **370/370

**CP: **1200/1200

**STR: **22

**VIT: **37

**DEX: ** 32

**INT: **120

**WIS: **118

**LUK: **9

**SPD: **21

**Status: Mindwalker **(+5 WIS &amp; +5 INT per level, +10 control to kokoro jutsu, -15% cost to kokoro jutsu), **Vain **(-10 VIT, -10 STR, -10 DEX), **Fashionable** (+15% effectiveness of [Bartering] Skill, +25% experience gain to [Bartering] Skill)


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: So a few questions have popped up about the rent payment in the last chapter. I have a few answers. First, why did Naruto spend so much to fix the furnace (between the skill books and parts) when he could have just paid the back rent which was cheaper? My answer is: Naruto wanted hot water to shower with and the reputation gains with the landlord didn't hurt either.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

S.O.P. Standard Operating Procedure. It was something that Naruto had become well acquainted with since the daily quests first became available to him so many months ago. So, it was nothing new anymore when it came to doing the quest. In fact, at this point Naruto could almost do the quests on autopilot, nothing about them surprised him anymore.

That is until they decide to suddenly change on him.

The morning following the episode with the Wani clan shinobi, Naruto did his normal daily quests, earning the last few points to make the jump to Unfriendly status which was great.

It was expected, he'd been diligent in raising his reputation with them through the daily quests. Earning Unfriendly, he'd expected a significant improvement, maybe even a little service. Truthfully it was like night and day. While the staff at the four shops he'd moved into the Unfriendly realm were still a bit rude to him, they didn't withhold service or threaten to kick him out on sight any more.

The best change came from the all new quests they offered suddenly . . . technically Higurashi didn't change but that was okay. Best of all, his game allowed him to accept all of his new daily quests again for the day. Naruto wasn't going to question it, it was more money and reputation, something he'd never get enough of.

**Daily Quest Alert (0/5)**

**Salvage Operation: Collect broken weapons from training fields one through ten.**

**Collect 30 pieces of scrap metal.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Higurashi Weapons.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Higurashi Weapons.**

**Daily Quest Alert (1/5)**

**Herbs needed: Collect fresh herbs that grow wild from training fields one through ten.**

**Collect 30 bundles of fresh herbs.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Yakiniku Q.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Yakiniku Q.**

**Daily Quest Accepted (2/5)**

**Daily Quest Alert (2/5)**

**Picking Wild: Collect fresh fruit and vegetables that grow wild from trainings fields one through ten.**

**Collect 15 wild vegetables and 15 wild fruit.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Farm Stand.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Farm Stand. **

**Daily Quest Accepted (3/5)**

**Daily Quest Alert (3/5)**

**Delivery Service: Make local deliveries of goods.**

**Deliver 5 packages throughout the village.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Konoha General Store.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Konoha General Store.**

**Daily Quest Accepted (4/5)**

**Daily Quest Alert (4/5)**

**All Natural Remedies: Collect the leaves of medicinal herbs that grow wild from training fields one through ten. **

**Collect 30 leaves of medicinal herbs.**

**Recover the missing crate of medicinal leaves.**

**Completion Award: Increase reputation with Konoha Apothecary.**

**500 Ryo**

**Completion Failure: Decrease reputation with Konoha Apothecary.**

**Daily Quest Accepted (5/5)**

Naruto happily took on the quests. It was so much easier than what he was doing before, simply because most of it could be done in one area, the open training fields with the exception of the deliveries and even that wasn't too bad.

Training fields one through four didn't have much to collect. Training field five and six were both occupied by others training, one a genin team he didn't know and the other by a pair of chuunin sparring.

Training field seven though was unexpected. Sakura was there training on her own already.

"Hey, what's up Sakura?" asked Naruto, greeting her as he entered the field.

"Training," she replied. "I've got a lot of catching up to do with you and Sasuke still."

"You've caught up a lot but it won't hurt," he replied.

"Are you here to train?"

"Not yet, I'm trying to do my daily quests."

"Daily quests? What are those?"

"I get quests from some of the shop keepers in the village to do little errands or tasks for them. In return I get a little money and some reputation points," he explain, his eyes scanning the training field for any of the bits he needed to collect.

"Reputation?"

"Yeah, you know, earning reputation points with them. Um, making them like me more," he explained clumsily.

"You can do that?"

"Apparently. I don't mind the work or the money and it doesn't usually take very long."

"Huh, well good luck. You going to train when you're done?"

"That's the plan," he answered. "You want to train together?"

"You can leave a clone with me to practice genjutsu on if you want. You can come back when you're done. I want to work on my skills today so it would help me out," she replied.

"Sure," Naruto replied, forming a team and inviting her. He would only take another second to form a clone except a thought occurred to him causing him to pause. One clone would eat half of his chakra which was kind of a waste if Sakura was just going to expose it to genjutsu after genjutsu. However, one hundred clones, ninety-nine of which he could send to collect the stuff he needed for his daily quests would not have been a waste at all. He couldn't help but grin.

Sakura flinched slightly in surprise when there was a series of loud pops and puffs of smoke obscuring the field. When her vision cleared she was looking at a hundred copies of Naruto. "Why so many?"

"One for you, ninety-nine to do my daily quests for me," he answered grinning. "I can totally train now while they do all the hard work for me."

"That's pretty smart. I wish Kakashi-sensei would let you do that for our missions."

"I tried that once, he wasn't having it if you remember."

Sakura shrugged.

It didn't take long for the clone army to run off to complete their tasks. Meanwhile, Naruto took aim at one of his favorite climbing trees and sprinted for it, easily charging up the tree then turning and running right back down again, keeping an even pace as he went, steadily draining his chakra and earning skill experience.

Slowly but surely, the clones returned to the field, carrying an assortment of fruits, vegetables, herbs, leaves, and scrap metal, creating a pile for each. Naruto was surprised by amount the clones were able to acquire and by the time the last clone returned they had collected nearly ten times the amount of each required.

Naruto dispelled the returning clones one by one, reclaiming his chakra from them and then collecting the supplies. It seemed they had gathered enough for Naruto to turn in the quest items for the next week plus assuming none of the items turned bad in that time.

"Okay, I'm going to run and turn these in real quick then I think I'm going to train some other stuff today. You good on your own?"

"Yeah, can you still leave a clone?"

"Yeah, he can stay. I don't if he's got a maximum range though so if he suddenly dispels . . . well, you get the idea"

"That's fine. I'll catch you later then, Naruto."

"See you later, Sakura-chan."

Naruto disbanded the group and ran back to town to turn in the quests, a simple enough task. Then he sent a clone on each delivery with a slip of paper to be signed.

While they did that, he browsed the aisles of Konoha General Store. Something he had never been able to do. Store was actually pretty well stocked with a large variety of home goods, stuff for home repair, home improvement, furniture, and a lot of other stuff like shogi boards of varying quality, some civilian clothing too. Naruto took the opportunity to purchase some new undershirts and boxer shorts since he had both time and opportunity.

The clones all returned with their signed forms which Naruto turned in, collecting his money, paying for stuff he wanted to buy and leaving.

After that Naruto headed for home, to attempt a new discovery for his [Fuinjutsu] skill, he'd gotten skunked the last few weeks, nothing new had been discovered, possibly because his level was too low to learn anything new. Thankfully, the time he'd spent in wave, he used nearly 200 [Kibaku Fuda Grade 2] that needed to now be replaced. It was a time consuming process, he could have done it while he was in wave but they were in immediate danger and his time was better spent training his combat skills. But now that he was home, back in Konoha, well he had time to spare.

Back in his shitty apartment, Naruto sat down at his rickety kitchen table and started working on it. He'd made about twenty of them in about ten minutes, at the current pace it would take hours to complete. As luck would have it, that was when his clone with Sakura finally dispelled, it gave him about a dozen levels to [Detect Genjutsu] and a new skill he hadn't expected.

**[Dispel Genjutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 50]**

Genjutsu is made to confuse the senses, knowing when you're caught in on is half the battle to breaking it. Actually breaking it is the other half. By fluxing your chakra you have a chance to disrupt the hold of the foreign chakra invading your system and thus dispelling the genjutsu's effects.

Additional 1% chance to dispel genjutsu when active.

Clone memories, nightmarish as they were, aside, the dispelling of the clone did give him an idea. He formed a single clone. The clone then sat down across from him and picked up a brush and started crafting a [Kibaku Fuda Grade 2]. When the clone finished, Naruto checked his skill level and was very pleased to see he did indeed get experience for it.

"New plan, me and clone plus fuinjutsu equals winning."

After that, Naruto and the clone were able to finish all 200 seals in just under two hours. It had the added benefit of getting Naruto just above level 25 in his [Fuinjutsu] skill.

"Okay, let's see if I can discover anything good today," he said, hoping something would come with level 25 of the skill.

Naruto activated [Discovery] in his [Fuinjutsu] skill tree.

**[Discovery] has succeeded. You have discovered a new seal [Shosen Fuda Grade 1]**

**Shosen Fuda Grade 1 – **A low quality tag charged with healing chakra. Restores 150-200 HP to any target it is applied to.

Naruto was barely able to contain his excitement. This was a major achievement. He no longer required Sakura to heal him when training. He could run dungeons on his own without having to wait between every monster he fought while his HP slowly restore any damage he'd taken. He was free train until he dropped now without any holding back at all.

"Oh yeah, totally going to abuse the shit out of this."

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

A week of free time and training passed quickly for Naruto and his friends. They met up almost every day to run through a training field, mostly for money as they weren't getting much for experience anymore.

They even went back to Training Field 15, the swamp they fought Washi and the alligator in and it was completely different. An Oversized Alligator still leapt from the water but it was weaker, a lot weaker. So weak it died before it could run away. Then they fought through two mobs of snakes before being confronted by an Hardheaded Alligator, same attack pattern as before but also one that died and didn't run away. Two more mobs of snakes and last was an Armored Alligator. It died leaving money but no skull cap and more importantly no Washi. Naruto figured that Washi being there was some kind of special event.

Anyway, Naruto trained hard that week exploiting all the new things he'd learned about his clones and especially the healing tags, something all of his friends loved, even Sakura as it saved her on chakra.

Naruto was the first to arrive at his teams meeting place for a change. And by first, he meant he was there a few hours before anyone was even supposed to be there. So Naruto got acquainted with his favorite climbing tree yet again.

Once Sasuke and Sakura arrived, Naruto stopped training. He restored his chakra then used a few of his healing tags to restore the damage from the [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu].

"What were those?" asked Sasuke, surprisingly it wasn't a demand.

"Cut your hand," Naruto replied, wanting to see what Sasuke would do.

"Why?"

"Trust me, cut your hand."

Sasuke eyed him suspiciously.

"Just do it, Sasuke-kun. You'll be surprised," Sakura added.

Sasuke finally relented, cutting his hand with a kunai, not deep but just enough to draw blood. "Now what?"

Naruto pulled a new tag out and held it above the cut then channeled chakra activating it. The fuda glowed green for a moment then crumbled.

Sasuke was slightly wide-eyed seeing that his cut was simply gone. "What was that?"

"Shosen Fuda, a seal tag with healing chakra in it," answered Naruto. "Pretty cool right? I just learned to make it this week."

"Can I buy some from you?"

"No need," said Naruto, handing over a stack of fifty of them. "I've been mass producing the things all week, you can have some."

"Thanks," he mumbled, stuffing the stack into his hip pouch.

Naruto grinned at getting a thanks from Sasuke. The boy was still very cold for the most part but he seemed to have developed a little respect for his team. Very little, but it was a start.

Naruto would have taunted him further at that point but Kakashi's arrival ended that notion.

"Hello my little students. I hope you have all rested well this past week. Today we get back to work," said Kakashi, his nose happily in his little orange book.

"Bring it, sensei!" shouted Naruto excitedly.

"Hn."

"Nice to see you too, sensei."

"Anyway, I thought today we could focus on training, make sure you haven't gotten rusty after a week off."

"What will we be doing?" asked Sakura, playing along with their weirder than usual.

"A little conditioning, maybe some sparring. I may even teach you a little something if you're not too out of shape."

"It's been a week, not a year. We couldn't have possibly gotten out of shape in that time," deadpanned Sasuke, glaring at their sensei. Sasuke obviously wasn't in the mood to play along.

Naruto and Sakura both nodded a firm agreement to the statement, no reason not to anymore.

"We shall see," said Kakashi, a twinkle in his one visible eye warning them of pain to come.

And pain did come, Kakashi put them through the ringer. When he said conditioning, he had them running laps around the village, including one lap on their hands. When he said sparring, he meant him verses them, one on one and he didn't hold back much.

"Well, I guess you didn't deteriorate as much as I feared. I suppose I can show you something new."

Three groans from the sprawled bodies on the ground before him were all the response he received.

"Now pay attention, it is lecture time," began Kakashi. "To start with, you all know that chakra is the mixing of spiritual and physical energies. Now, who can tell me how this energy can be used? Sakura?"

Sakura groaned but sat up anyway. "We can expel the chakra from our bodies and bend it to our will, even enacting that will on our own bodies or the bodies of others."

"Good, what else can chakra do?"

"What do you mean sensei?"

"What can chakra do for your muscles?"

Naruto sat up for this and raised his hand.

"Naruto?"

"It can make your stronger and faster," he answered.

"Very good. Now, there are two different ways to strengthen and two different ways to increase your speed. Today, we're focusing on speed. First, does anyone know both methods?"

"Hn."

"Please enlighten your teammates."

"You can force chakra into your muscles for a sudden burst of strength or speed. You can also circulate and contain the chakra within your muscles for a constant boost to your speed or strength."

"Excellent," said Kakashi, smiling behind his mask. The only clue to his students that he was smiling was the strange one-eyed smile the man had mastered. "So, for the rest of today, we'll work on it then we can maybe have a little race. Winner gets to choose where we eat dinner."

Naruto was excited as usual to be learning something new, especially if he was going to be rewarded with Ramen. As to the skill, he already knew he could increase his speed by pushing chakra into his legs for a sudden burst of speed because of his [Chakra Sprint] skill. But this new one was about applying a constant amount of chakra to his legs.

Naruto started by applying as little chakra as he could then holding it in his legs. Once he felt the chakra was successfully held there he tried to run but it didn't feel any different.

"You need to push yourself," said Sasuke. "You can't just run lightly like that, you have to push yourself to run fast and then run even faster until you're running faster than you've ever run before. The more you get used to it the more chakra you can apply and the faster you'll run."

Naruto understood the explanation but he was quite perplexed that Sasuke was helping him.

"Don't read into me helping. You gave me those tags so now we're even. I don't like being indebted to anyone." With that he turned and walked away to see to his own training.

Naruto snorted a little chuckle at the way Sasuke acted but quickly refocused on his training. He started out running around the training area slowly building up speed, it was important that he maintain control of his chakra or it could end up really hurting him. Before he knew it he was at his physical limits, it was then he started pushing a little more chakra in and he notice a significant increase in his speed but not like the [Chakra Sprint], this was more controlled. He found he could turn instantly without slowing down even a little bit. It was an amazing feeling, one that Naruto had started to really enjoy when he was distracted by a blue message window.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**By using your chakra to increase your speed and dexterity, movement enhancement 'Chakra Speed' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

Naruto tapped the button, not really paying attention to where he was or where he was going. And when he did look around he realized he was out of control and quickly leaving the training field. Thankfully a tree stopped him before he ran out of the clearing they were training in.

Naruto woke up a bit later with a blue window hovering above him, waiting for him to close or read it.

**[Chakra Speed (Active/Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Chakra flowing through your body has been focused into your muscles granting a new level of speed and dexterity. Applying a little more chakra can make you even faster but be careful you don't destroy your muscles in the process.

Passively increases DEX 1%

Passively increases SPD 20%

Additional 1% speed per activation.

Additional 100 damage per 5 seconds taken when activated more than 20 times at once.

Naruto closed the message only for it to be replaced by another.

**After learning both basic speed skills used by shinobi, you've unlocked SPD, you are now able to increase your speed through training.**

Naruto would have cheered if his face . . . body didn't hurt so much from hitting that tree. He closed the message.

**You've found a new speed called 'faster' causing your SPD to go up by 1.**

**You've found a new speed called 'faster' causing your SPD to go up by 1.**

**You've found a new speed called 'faster' causing your SPD to go up by 1.**

**You've found a new speed called 'faster' causing your SPD to go up by 1.**

**You've found a new speed called 'faster' causing your SPD to go up by 1.**

Naruto groaned as he closed the message windows.

"Sakura," he moaned. "Come heal me . . . tree hurt."

Naruto heard a faint reply of 'Baka' from Sakura before he blacked out.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

A month had passed since Naruto and his team resumed duty and it was pretty much the same old grind. Wake up, have clones do his dailies, run a training field with his friends, train, meet his team and train more plus a D-Rank mission followed by more training and the occasional training ground with Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto was ready for another C-Rank and had voiced such to his sensei but outright denied his request without explanation. Naruto personally thought the man had become afraid something bad would happen to them after what happened in the wave mission. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had all pointed out that the likelihood of that happening again were astronomical but their words fell on deaf ears.

Naruto was more than ready lately. His team had all gained another level in the last month, nearly two. Hell, Shikamaru's team had all gained another level too. It was a damned difficult for all of them to grind to get to that point. Naruto was barely getting 5% of a level from a training field and less than 1% of a level from a D-Rank mission. It was extremely frustrating.

Anyway, Naruto and his team sat waiting for their sensei to arrive. He was late. For the first time since they had first met the man he was late.

"I don't like this," complained Naruto. "He's never late."

"Maybe we should go look for him," suggested Sakura.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke.

"Are you sure we should just wait here, Sasuke-kun?"

"Teme's right, he'll show up eventually or the old man would send someone to tell us," Naruto agreed.

"I'm glad you all think so highly of me," said a voice from behind them they all knew too well, that didn't stop it from scaring the all nearly to death.

Kakashi laughed a little at seeing his genin react. Naruto was clinging to a tree branch ten meters above them. Sasuke drew his sword to defend himself. Sakura simply glared at him but did not react beyond that.

"Not cool, sensei," hissed Naruto, before letting go of the branch and dropping to the ground.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he sheathed his sword.

"Did you really not expect that?" asked Sakura, rolling her eyes at her teammates.

"Hn."

"I did not," stated Sakura vehemently. "How dare you accuse a lady of such a thing, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn," he grunted with a superior smirk.

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms, a little pink staining her cheeks.

"She's kind of right, it was rather rude point out that she wet herself a little in fright," commented Kakashi, the man seemed to be feeling rather vindictive that day, first being late, then sneaking up on them and finally that comment.

"So why were you late, sensei? Do I need to have a talk with the old man?"

"You can if you want. It just happens that I was with the Hokage which is why I was late," he explained.

"Did you finally decide to give us another C-Rank?" asked Naruto, anticipation written all over his face.

"Nope, even better," he said.

"B-Rank?" asked Sasuke, he even looked excited now.

"Better."

"A-Rank?" stuttered Sakura, slightly fearfully.

"Better."

"S-Rank?" whispered Naruto. "Yatta!" he shouted a moment later.

"Better."

Naruto froze in his celebration. "What's better than an S-Rank?"

"This," said Kakashi, holding out three pieces of paper, one for each of them.

"What's this?" asked Sakura, before she started reading the form.

"I've nominated you three for the Chuunin Placement Exams to be held here in a week," he explained while his students read the forms.

"Is this why we haven't done another C-Rank?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes, I didn't want to start a C-Rank and risk missing this. It's also why I've been pushing you all so hard this last month," he explained.

"You're the best sensei ever, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto cheered, then attempted to hug the man only to find himself hugging Sasuke instead and feeling rather uncomfortable about it.

"You're the worst sensei ever, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto hissed, unlatching from Sasuke and pawing at himself to wipe away any possible 'Teme' infection.

"You're a little bipolar, aren't you?" asked Kakashi nonchalantly.

"You're a lot perverted, aren't you?" asked Sakura, countering him and insulting Naruto at the same time.

"I feel so unloved," cried Naruto, crouching down and drawing circles in the dirt with a finger.

"Get over it," said Sasuke, smirking.

"Anyway, you have to decide for yourself if you plan to enter. I'll be here tomorrow for training if you want it before the exam. If not, just report to room 301 by 10:00 am a week from today," explained Kakashi. He then vanished leaving leaves blowing in the wind.

"Well, I'll be here tomorrow, you guys?" started Naruto.

"Sure," said Sakura.

"Fine, but don't slow me down."

Naruto and Sakura both rolled their eyes at his typical response.

"So, lunch anyone? I'm feeling like ramen."

"You always feel like ramen," retorted Sakura.

"Yeah . . . so?"

"Let's just get him some ramen, maybe it will shut him up for a while," said Sasuke, walking ahead of the group.

"Alright, R-A-M-E-N, what's that spell? Ramen! Ramen! Yay Ramen!"

"Baka," both Sakura and Sasuke uttered together unintentionally.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV26 **Next Level:** 84.32%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **4272/4272

**CP: **3409/3409

**STR: **61 (41.10) = 102.10

**VIT: **56 (371.20) = 427.20

**DEX: **61 (26.47) = 87.47

**INT: **63 (277.88) = 340.88

**WIS: **56 (37.80) = 93.80

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **219 (54.75) = 273.75

**SPD: **41 (75.40) = 116.40

**Status: Uzumaki** (+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **10

**Ryo:** 624000

**[Chakra Speed (Active/Passive) Lv13 Exp: 51.23% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Chakra flowing through your body has been focused into your muscles granting a new level of speed and dexterity. Applying a little more chakra can make you even faster but be careful you don't destroy your muscles in the process.

Passively increases DEX 7%

Passively increases SPD 26%

Additional 1% speed per activation.

Additional 100 damage per 5 seconds taken when activated more than 20 times at once.

**[Raiton Affinity (Passive) Lv24 Exp: 18.12%]**

The ability to manipulate and control lightning style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Raiton effects 24%.

**[Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu (Active) Lv49 Exp: 13.31% HP: 3 per second]**

Manipulate raiton chakra to stimulate the production of chakra within your body.

Additional 49 CP regenerated per second while active.

**[Doton Affinity (Passive) Lv21 Exp: 25.55%]**

The ability to manipulate and control earth style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Doton effects 21%.

**[Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu (Active) Lv41 Exp 65.41% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Manipulate the earth and stone around you to encase yourself in a thin armor of earth providing enhanced defense.

Additional +200 DEF when active.

**[Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu (Active) Lv22 Exp: 41.14% CP: 40]**

A D-Rank ninjutsu. You can now spit a ball of mud at high speed to damage an opponent. Damage and accuracy increases the closer you are to your target. Deals Blunt Damage 64-84.

**[Detect Genjutsu (Passive) Lv29 Exp: 14.12%]**

Genjutsu is made to confuse the senses, knowing when you're caught in one is half the battle to breaking it.

Passively detect Genjutsu effects 29%.

**[Dispel Genjutsu (Active) Lv7 Exp: 31.21% CP: 50]**

Genjutsu is made to confuse the senses, knowing when you're caught in on is half the battle to breaking it. Actually breaking it is the other half. By fluxing your chakra you have a chance to disrupt the hold of the foreign chakra invading your system and thus dispelling the genjutsu's effects.

Additional 7% chance to dispel genjutsu when active.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: So there have been a number of questions as to how I keep all the stats straight. There are two ways. First, I have two word documents, one for just Naruto's stats, skills, items/equipment, and reputations. The other word document holds all the character data for everyone else that matters or that their status is important. Second, I use Excel for the numbers. I create the formulas necessary to calculate their changes based on level, skill points, bonus points earned and any gear/fuin stats that may apply as well as any passive buffs they receive. I try to be thorough but it is a lot to keep up with. It's also why I don't put out more than one or two chapters a week as opposed to the three or four I put out when I first started this story, updating all of the characters regularly takes time and effort.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Naruto awoke early as planned and was quickly out of his apartment to meet up with Sasuke and Sakura. After the first day of training with Kakashi it was recommended that they watch the main gate for the various foreign teams arriving in Konoha.

As the teams from the various villages came in, Naruto would check their level and recommend if they should be investigated further, unfortunately it sometimes took some effort to convince Sasuke. And even then, convincing Sasuke was not always successful, like when a genin came in carrying a giant club looking like a wall of moving muscle but was only level thirteen. Naruto eventually just let Sasuke follow him and find out for himself leaving Naruto and Sakura to pick up any slack. Between the three of them, they would follow the various teams to see what kind of techniques they may use, any useful habits, or just anything they could use against them. Unfortunately they could only follow them for a few hours before they had to meet Kakashi for training but they had definitely learned some valuable information.

Naruto's [Observe] skill had advanced quite a bit as a result too.

**[Observe (Passive/Active) Lv36 Exp: 15.21% CP: 5] **

Through continuous observation, a skill to observe objects, situations, and persons was generated that allows for quick information gathering. The higher the skill, the greater the data obtained.

With just one day left, the only village that hadn't shown up that was still expected to arrive was Sunagakure. When they did arrive it was somewhat disappointing, they were all average level, no one exceptional to speak of. Then Naruto noticed another group trailing behind the main party. This last group was something special.

**Sabaku Temari Lv 28**

**Sabaku Kankuro Lv 26**

**Sabaku Gaara Lv 34**

"That group," said Naruto.

"He's dangerous," said Sasuke, his Sharingan activating and focusing in on the young man with a gourd on his back.

"So we follow them?" asked Sakura.

"Absolutely," said Naruto and Sasuke together.

So they followed from a distance. It became clear very quickly that all of the other Suna genin feared this team and based on their level they had good reason to fear them but then even the members of the team were fearful of one of its members. There was something about Gaara that terrified his brother and sister.

Naruto used his observe to see if he could figure it out.

**Name: **Sabaku Gaara

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV34** Next Level: **61.21%

**Affiliation: **Suna

**HP: **620/620

**CP: **920/920

**STR: **25

**VIT: ** 62

**DEX: **25

**INT: **92

**WIS: ** 96

**LUK: **3

**DEF: **1900

**SPD: **17.50

**Status: Unstable Ichibi Jinchuuriki **(+50 DEF per level, +25% control of Suna Jutsu),** Terror of Suna **(-50% to all reputation gains),** Insomniac **(-50% to SPD, -25% to recovery, -50% to bonus stat gain)

**Sabaku Gaara is one of three children of the Kazekage. He is despised, hated and feared in spite of this, as evidenced by the many assassination attempts against him, most of them ordered by the Kazekage himself. He was made to be a weapon but a poor seal left Gaara with a disturbed psyche from the constant torment of the very demon he holds within him. He's a killer through and through.**

That did not make Naruto feel comfortable about the exams. Gaara was like him but much more dangerous and apparently very unstable.

"He's more than dangerous," said Naruto. He needed to see the Hokage about this, but for now they would follow him and his team.

The group went to a hotel and with the other Sunagakure genin and checked in. After that, Kankuro and Temari left, causing them to split up.

"Sasuke, stay and watch the one with the gourd, be very cautious of him. Sakura and I will follow the other two," said Naruto.

Sasuke wordlessly agreed, not even grunting.

Naruto would have preferred to stay and watch Gaara himself but he knew Sasuke would never agree.

Kankuro and Temari both kind of just wandered around the village.

"Did you see that?" asked Sakura.

"See what?"

"The girl, she was talking to the bundle on the boy's back. She caught herself but . . . I swear she did," said Sakura.

"Suna Kugutsu?" asked Naruto, already knowing he was a puppeteer the answer after using [Observe] on him.

"Possibly, probable even."

They continued to follow the pair through town, mostly in an attempt to find out about the puppet he used but still paying attention for anything that might slip out in conversation or action. Then Naruto picked up on something surprising himself even as he did so.

Naruto watched as Temari subtly looked at the village, she watch the roofs, the alleys. This could have been confused for paranoia but Naruto was certain, she was planning something. He would have probably left it there but one of the village kids got into trouble with Kankuro.

"I'll break it up, the old man wouldn't be happy if Konohamaru got himself hurt," said Naruto. "Watch my back, yeah?"

"I will," said Sakura.

Naruto dropped from his rooftop perch landing out of sight in an alley near the Suna genin.

"Oi, let the kid go," said Naruto, causing Kankuro to pause in striking the kid.

"Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it?" asked Kankuro.

"I would be happy to kick your ass but I'm pretty sure the ANBU converging on us now would prefer to do that themselves," Naruto said with confidence, despite lying through his teeth.

"Bullshit," said Kankuro.

"Do you have any idea who the kid is?"

"Do you think I give a fuck?"

"You really should, I mean, aren't you morons briefed on important political figures in the main villages as well as their families? I would think you'd know that even better considering you're the Kazekage's children."

Temari suddenly gasped. "Kankuro, you dumb fuck, drop that kid now and surrender or we're all dead."

"What are you talking-" Kankuro started speaking only to find himself, the real Kankuro that was hidden in the bundle, planted into the ground with knee on his neck and a kunai ready to gut him.

"He's the fucking Hokage's grandson," Temari struggled to say, the ANBU detaining her had his hand around her neck after slamming her bodily into the nearest wall. She was trying not to do anything to provoke the ANBU so wasn't struggling at all.

Kankuro would have said more but he was quickly losing consciousness, being choked out by the ANBU's knee pressing into his neck and throat.

Temari was yanked off the wall and brought face to face with an ANBU commander. "Do we have a problem?" was the monotone question from the ANBU.

"We're sorry, we didn't-"

"I suggest you take your brother back to your hotel and remain there until the exams begin tomorrow. If we see you out unsupervised again, you will be detained and questioned." The three ANBU disappeared in a puff of smoke and a loud pop.

"I tried to warn you," said Naruto, smirking a little. He might miss his prankster status buff but he was no less than capable of pulling off some amazing pranks when it suited him. He just had to hope he didn't get into trouble with the real ANBU if they found out what he did.

Naruto would have said more but was surprised by the arrival of Gaara in gust of wind and sand.

Gaara looked at his downed brother and the bruises already forming on Temari's neck. "You're both an embarrassment. The Kazekage will not be pleased."

"It was a mistake-" Temari started to protest but was silenced with a glare from Gaara.

"Who are you?" asked Gaara, now glaring at Naruto.

Naruto didn't care for the bloodthirsty look Gaara was giving him.

"It's proper to give your name first," said Sasuke, the boy was leaning against a nearby fence as if he'd always been there.

"Sabaku Gaara."

"Uchiha-"

"I don't care about you, I want his name," interrupted Gaara, looking intently at Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto, but you can call me nisama, just ask little Ichi," said Naruto, grinning as he saw Gaara's eyes widen slightly. He grinned even more when he heard the slight quaver in Gaara's voice.

"I'll see you in the exam . . . and kill you." Gaara then turned away from Naruto. "Temari, carry Kankuro, we're returning to the hotel, you've embarrassed us enough."

Temari nodded wordlessly, lifting Kankuro onto her shoulder then dragging the limp puppet behind her.

Sakura dropped down a moment later. "What was that about? The 'nisama' thing?"

"Oh, that . . . meh, don't worry about it. He understood and that's all that really matters. Anyway, thanks for the genjutsu back there, it really enhanced the trick."

"Oi, you bastard!" shouted Konohamaru, coming out from behind the trash bin he'd sought coverage behind after being released from Kankuro's grip.

"Huh? Me?" asked Naruto, pointing to himself.

"Yeah, you. You interrupted me, I totally had that guy and you ruined the ass kicking I was about to give the make-up wearing freak," boasted the boy.

"What are you talking about? I just saved your ass from an epic beat down. You should be on the ground groveling before my amazing self."

"Hah, amazing? Yeah right, amazingly short maybe."

"What was that you little shit?"

"You heard me, what are you going to do about it? I'm the Hokage's grandson, you can't touch me. You're not that brave. I bet you're wetting yourself now, huh? I bet you all-"

Naruto brained the brat, leaving a nice lump on the boy's hard head. "Shut up you brat. You could be Hokage for all I care and I would still kick your ass if you're going to say shit like that."

Konohamaru groaned in pain, clutching his ringing head. "Ow . . . why? No one ever messes with me."

"I'm not 'no one', I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage and don't you forget it."

"That's it," shouted Konohamaru, springing back to his feet and pointing an accusatory finger at Naruto. "From this day forward, I'm your apprentice. You will teach me everything you know and one day we'll battle to the death where I'll emerge victorious being the natural prodigy that I am. Then I'll become Hokage."

"The Hokage's grandson is an idiot," commented Sakura, as the boy continued to drone on and on.

"We're going to be late for training," said Sasuke.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke left to make it to training leaving Konohamaru behind, still spouting off his monologue about his greatness and future achievements. It was nearly an hour before the boy noticed he was alone.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Morning came too soon for Naruto's tastes. Kakashi had pushed them hard all week, even the day leading up to the exam. It was tough but worth it. Naruto went quickly through his morning routine, and was out the door to meet up with his friends for breakfast, Chouji's mother insisted they all come by for a big breakfast. Naruto was not about to decline an invite to free food.

The Akimichi household was as large as the Akimichi family themselves and everything was bigger. Bigger doors, bigger furniture, and best of all, bigger food and more of it too. Naruto had been invited over by Chouji a few times in the past and it was always an impressive meal that left him full for days afterward. Going into a major event like this was bound to be difficult, starting it out right with a full breakfast was a smart way to go.

Naruto knocked on the door and waited, he could hear loud noises from inside, lots of laughter and maybe even a little roughhousing, so he knocked again. It took a minute but the door was finally opened by Chouza, Chouji's father.

"Morning, Naruto," said the elder man, smiling happily.

"Morning, Akimichi-san."

"Naruto, please, we're all shinobi here, just call me Chouza." He motioned for Naruto to enter.

Just inside the entrance was a pile of shinobi sandals which Naruto quickly added his own to. He then followed Chouza inside to the dining hall, and it was definitely a hall. The dining hall was the largest room in the house from what Naruto had been told by Chouji, it was large enough to house the entire Akimichi clan at one time such as when they held clan meeting it was always done as a banquet. Chouji explained that well fed people were more likely to compromise which is why the clan had so little strife and everyone seemed content and happy most of the time.

"Naruto, about time you showed up," called Chouji, seeing his friend enter the hall.

Naruto was bombarded by other greetings from Shikamaru and his parents, then Ino and her parents, even Sakura and her parents were there. Sasuke was absent but that wasn't really surprising, he was invited but apparently chose not to come or hadn't shown up yet if he was coming. Still, it was a loud room even if it wasn't even a quarter full.

Naruto was quickly ushered into a chair by Chouji's mother followed quickly by her putting a plate down in front of him that was laden with food.

"Just make sure you eat all the fruit and oatmeal, you'll need your carbs," ordered the clan mother, pointing out the portion set out for him. Naruto's eyes widened at the size of the bowl of oatmeal, it was as big as a ramen bowl which was already oversized.

Naruto swallowed nervously before digging in with gusto, he was not going to disappoint the Akimichi matriarch after she went through so much trouble and was so kind to him. Naruto was surprised the thick oatmeal went down as easily as it did. He was more surprised that he still had room for more when it was done. Naruto ate his fruit, them some of the various meats and even some eggs.

Throughout all of this, Naruto and the other genin were trying to listen in on the various conversations between the adults while they ate their meals under the strict eye of Chouji's mother.

"Oto sent a team," commented Inoichi.

"So many new hidden villages popping up all the time," commented Kizashi, Sakura's father.

"And none of them ever last long do they," added Chouza.

"Something about this one troubles me," said Shikaku, the man was leaning back in his chair, not really eating.

"Where is this Otogakure?" asked Mebuki, Sakura's mother.

"That's part of what worries me," said Shikaku. "We don't know."

"How is that possible? How did we even invite them to the exams without knowing where to send it?" Ino's mother asked, a concerned look crossing her face.

"It's an open invite, all of the elemental nations know it happening, it's not exactly a big secret," explained Inoichi. "Still, it is concerning when a village we'd never heard of before now just shows up."

"Their genin are talented too," chimed in Shikamaru, pushing his own plate forward. He was clearly done eating and wanted to join the conversation.

"Oh, and how do you know that?"

"Team 7," he answered lazily.

Suddenly all eyes were focused on Naruto and Sakura.

"Kakashi-sensei 'suggested' we watch the gates all week for the various teams coming in and then trying to analyze them for any weaknesses or strengths," explained Sakura. She, like Ino, had only been picking at the food in front of her. She ate but it wasn't as much as the boys, not even close.

"And . . ." prompted Inoichi.

"Only one of the teams' looks like a real threat," she started. "Two boys and a girl, Abumi Zaku seems short tempered, and he's definitely a ninjutsu specialist. We saw him playing with wind in an attempt to flirt with a civilian girl, when she turned him down flat he created a blast of wind that nearly blew her skirt up if she hadn't acted fast to hold it down. The girl, Tsuchi Kin, we saw her messing with a senbon at one point so she probably uses poison-"

"Don't forget the bell she was messing with," added Naruto.

"Right and possibly auditory genjutsu," she continued. "The last boy and their leader, Kinuta Dosu, seems like a taijutsu type but we didn't get much of a read on him."

"Interesting, anything else?" asked Shikaku.

"Yeah, they had the same idea as us, caught them trying to spy on us while we were spying on one of the teams from Suna." Sakura couldn't help but shudder a bit at the memory of the bloodlust from the boy, Gaara.

"Are you cold, sweetheart?" asked Mebuki, catching Sakura shudder.

"No, just remembering that boy from Suna."

"Oh, does someone have a forbidden love interest from another village?" asked Mebuki, teasing her daughter.

"That's not even funny, kaasan," snapped Sakura, a frown instantly marring her face. "He's dangerous, probably the most dangerous person I've ever met, worse than Zabuza even."

"Oh, and who is this?" asked Chouza, leaning forward in interest.

"I told the Hokage about him yesterday," said Naruto, finally leaning back from his mostly empty plate. "He said I'm to keep my mouth shut about him. That said, if any of you meet up with him any time during the exam you need to run away as fast as you can and don't look back."

"Flee on sight, for a genin?" asked Chouza. "Just how dangerous is he?"

"That's enough, Chouza," interrupted Shikaku. "We can ask the Hokage about him. In the meantime, I suggest you heed Naruto's recommendation."

"Just 'cause they are afraid of him doesn't mean he's that strong," Ino chimed in.

Inoichi just sighed. "Ino, stop being contradictory just for the sake of trying to one up Sakura-chan. It's a legitimate warning and you would be wise to listen."

Ino glowered at her father.

"Now that's enough, both of you," interrupted Ino's mother. "Inoichi, there is no need to be so harsh And, Ino, there is no reason to be so obstinate."

Both of them properly chided let the topic drop.

"Anyway, it's time for you kids to get out the door," said Yoshino. "And Shikamaru, if you quit, I won't ever let you sleep in again."

"You hardly let me sleep in now," he groused.

"Want to say that again?" asked his mother, an eyebrow twitching in irritation.

"I said-" Before he could retort, he was quickly cut off by his father covering the boy's mouth and marching him out of the house before he could say something he'd really regret.

Naruto followed the rest out, thanking the Akimichi's profusely for the meal.

It was a short jaunt from there to the Academy, where they were met by Sasuke just outside the building's main entrance.

"You're almost late," he snapped.

"So we're on time," corrected Naruto.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke.

"Let's just go in already," said Shikamaru, hoping to prevent any arguments that may crop up.

Inside they were confronted by a large crowd outside of a room marked 301.

**Genjutsu Detected**

Naruto blinked in surprise at the warning message quickly sending it away. He looked around a bit then back toward the stairs when it dawned on him, they had only gone up two floors.

"Out of the way," demanded Sasuke. "And while you're at, dispel this pathetic genjutsu."

There was an audible slapping sound immediately following his statement. If you were to look, you'd see both Shikamaru and Naruto had both face-palmed in disbelief that the supposed prodigy would do something so unbelievably stupid.

"You dumbass," said another person in the crowd that had obviously seen through the ruse.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" demanded Sasuke, glaring at the girl that said it.

"I'm talking to a dumbass," she restated. "Only a complete dumbass would tell all the unqualified that there was a genjutsu here. Don't you get it, this was part of the test and you just gave another fifteen people the answer to the first part. What kind of moron are you?"

"I am Uchiha Sasuke, what is your name?"

"Tsuchi Kin, and until you prove otherwise, your name is now 'dumbass'."

"You will fall first," he stated arrogantly, before forcing his way past her toward the stairs that would lead up to the third floor.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but Sasuke was so uncool there," said Ino.

"I know," Sakura stated, her head hanging low.

"Let's hurry before he gets into even more trouble," said Naruto, pushing the group along. If he'd waited a few more minutes he would have seen Tenten and her team coming up behind them.

Outside of the real room 301 both team's sensei were waiting, Kakashi reading porn, Asuma rolling a cigarette.

"So, you all came," said Asuma first.

"Why wouldn't we?" asked Chouji.

"It's a team test, if one of chose not to take it then none of us could," answered Shikamaru.

"You mean I didn't have to take this stupid test?" asked Ino.

"Nope, but since you're here you may as well," said Asuma, grinning.

"You planned this," Ino stated firmly, glaring at the man.

"And?" asked Asuma, waiting for her to make a point that wasn't obvious.

"I like your teacher," said Naruto, grinning. "He's cool."

"Troublesome," groaned Shikamaru. "You say that now but you haven't had to listen to him complain about his girlfriend."

"I do not complain about my girlfriend. I don't even have a girlfriend," he protested.

"I'll be sure to tell Kurenai you said that," Kakashi chimed in, grinning behind his mask.

"Damned you, Kakashi."

Naruto couldn't help laughing a bit, it was kind of funny to witness.

"Mah, you kids should head inside," Kakashi ordered before Asuma could embarrass himself any further.

"See you later, sensei," said Naruto, leading the way.

"Hn."

"Wish us luck, sensei," said Sakura, trying not to giggle at the look on Asuma's face.

"Troublesome."

"I'm ready for a snack, let's hurry inside so I can have one."

"Why me?" groaned Ino, following the troupe inside the room.

As soon as Naruto entered the room he got the quest alert he'd been expecting since Kakashi had first told them about the exams.

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 1**

**Successfully complete the first stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Pass the exam.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 50000 Exp**

**25000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

Naruto read the quest, it was very fair and he could decline if he wanted to. He tapped the accept button proceeding into the room without anyone noticing.

The room was filled with genin from all over the place, his [Observe] passive ability was buzzing with information ready to be taken. Names, levels, titles, all kinds of information there for the taking.

"Yahoo," shouted a familiar voice.

Naruto looked to see Kiba and his team approaching them.

"What's up, dog breath?" asked Naruto, grinning. Kiba and Naruto weren't very close but they did often enjoy a prank together, insulting each other was just part of their unique friendship.

"Not much, short stack," he replied, grinning as well.

"See anything interesting yet?" asked Chouji.

"Nah, just more punks waiting to get their ass kicked."

"By who?" asked Naruto, he tried to keep straight faced when he asked but it didn't last.

"Ass," Kiba grumbled, trying not to laugh also. It was an admittedly good joke. "Anyway, looks like all the rookies are here. Mom says it's a big deal for even one rookie team to be nominated for the exam, let alone three."

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, a superior smirk adorning his face.

"Could you be a little more arrogant?" asked Naruto. "None of us would be here if we weren't skilled enough."

"Hn," this time Sasuke sneered, crossing his arms.

"Jerk," grumbled Naruto. "Anyway, are you and your team ready for the exams?"

"Hell yeah, we're gonna take this thing by storm," he boasted.

Naruto took a moment to [Observe] Kiba and then the rest of his approaching team. It was a bit underwhelming.

**Name: **Inuzuka Kiba

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV20** Next Level: ** 89.99%

**HP: **900/900

**CP: **300/300

**STR: **130

**VIT: **90

**DEX:** 130

**INT:** 30

**WIS: **35

**LUK: **3

**SPD: ** 95

**Status: Feral **(+5 STR &amp; +5 DEX per level, -10 WIS, -10 INT),** Pack Leader **(+10 INT, +10 WIS, +10% damage when in team**), Ninken Master **(Ninken partner +20% damage, ninken partner +25% increase to experience gain)

**Inuzuka Kiba is a member of the feral Inuzuka clan known for their close relationship with ninken. That close relationship with ninken has allowed their clan to develop very animalistic abilities and jutsu making them fierce combatants and excellent trackers. Kiba though a son of the clan head is fairly average for an Inuzuka.**

**Name: **Hyuuga Hinata

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV23** Next Level: **87.14%

**HP: **900/900

**CP: **450/450

**STR: **30

**VIT: **90

**DEX: **221

**INT: ** 45

**WIS: **60

**LUK: **2

**SPD: ** 46

**Status: Unconfident **(-15% damage, -5% damage when in team), **Flexible** (+5 DEX per level, +0.25 SPD per level), **Kindness **(+20% to all reputation gains), **Weak Byakugan** (+2 DEX per level)

**Hyuuga Hinata is a member of the elitist Hyuuga clan known for their doujutsu and unique taijutsu style. She is a very sweet girl but very shy so not well known by her classmates. She finds the strength to improve from watching the person she most admires.**

**Name: **Aburame Shino

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: ** LV21** Next Level: **96.21%

**HP: **900/900

**CP: **770/770

**STR:** 50

**VIT: **90

**DEX: **50

**INT: **77

**WIS: **98

**LUK: **2

**SPD: **55

**Status: Creepy **(-10% to all reputation gains, +50% effectiveness to [Stealth]),** Dedicated** (+25% increase to experience gain, +50% increase to bonus stat gain), **Logical **(+2 INT &amp; +3 WIS per level)

**Aburame Shino is a member of the acclaimed Aburame clan known for their silent nature and appreciation of the little things. Known to host a colony of kikaichu within their bodies make their techniques and abilities not just powerful but also extremely creepy. Shino is the heir to the clan and a very capable shinobi in training.**

Hinata was still the strongest on the team which did surprise Naruto given she was so shy and severely lacking in confidence. But it did tell him that she worked really hard to get stronger, to be better and that was kind of awesome. That she had grown that much without going to the training fields with him and the others was even more impressive.

Shino and Kiba were another story, both were very disappointing to Naruto. He'd come to expect more of them, especially since Shikamaru was at a higher level. But then again, they didn't go to the training fields with him. They didn't get the extra experience from it that he and the others gained from the challenge.

Naruto made the decision then, that when the exams ended he was going to make a point of trying to get team 8 to join his training group.

"You rookies should quiet down," said a new voice coming over to the nine genin.

Naruto looked toward the source, it was a silver haired genin with glasses. He had a friendly smile that seemed welcoming but it didn't quite reach his eyes. It was a look Naruto had become well versed with.

**Yakushi Kabuto Lv?**

That little bit of information made Naruto worried. The [Observe] of him made him very worried as it gave him nothing, not even Status effects. He could get Status effects for Kakashi-sensei. Could that meant this guy's level was higher than Kakashi's? It also begged the question, why was he here taking the Chuunin exam?

"Who are you? What do you want?" demanded Naruto, one hand venturing toward his weapons pouch.

"No need to be so paranoid. I'm a Konoha shinobi like you guys. I just thought I'd come give a little advise seeing as you're all rookies and you're making a lot of noise. Just look around, you've drawn a lot of notice," Kabuto explained, trying to reassure them.

"Yeah, right, what do you really want?" asked Naruto.

"Seriously, here I'll prove it. I've got these info cards. It's got data I've collected over the years."

"Do you have information on people?" asked Sasuke, showing a little interest.

"Of course," answered Kabuto. "Who do you want to know about?"

"Sabaku Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto," said Sasuke.

"Ass, don't go spreading my information around," Naruto stepped in immediately. "We're a team you jackass, start acting like it."

"Its fine, Naruto-san, I won't read your information card if you don't want me to. But I can give you what I have on Sabaku Gaara," offered Kabuto.

That actually did peak Naruto's interest, he wondered how Kabuto's information differed from what he learned using [Observe].

"Alright, let's see what you've got," said Naruto, stepping back and crossing his arms.

"Sabaku Gaara, I shows he's done eight C-Rank missions and one B-Rank, I show that he has completed every mission without even being scratched," Kabuto relayed to the genin.

It matched up with what Naruto expected but Kabuto's card was missing details about any of his abilities.

"He's from Suna so I'm afraid I don't have any other information."

"What about your info card?" asked Naruto, wondering how he'd respond to the request.

"Well . . ." Kabuto stalled, scratching the back of his head and chuckling nervously. "Like you, I don't want my abilities broadcasted."

It was a solid dodge but did nothing to make Naruto less suspicious of the man with a '?' for a title.

"Have you taken the test before?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah, this is actually my seventh time. How else do you think I got the info for my cards?"

"Wow, you must suck," stated Kiba, chortling at his own joke.

"The Chuunin Selection Exam is really difficult, people die here," replied Kabuto, showing a bit of displeasure at the disrespect Kiba was showing.

Naruto would have asked him more questions but the arrival of someone he knew distracted him.

"Hey, Tenten, over here," he waved her and her team over to them.

Naruto saw Neji snort in disgust, mumble a few words to his teammates and walk off.

"So, Neji is still an ass, huh?" asked Naruto as Tenten and Lee walked over to the genin.

"Do you have to antagonize everyone?" asked Sakura before Tenten could answer.

"What? He is an ass."

"You shouldn't talk about him like that," warned Tenten. "He's the most powerful genin here for good reason."

"Actually, Sabaku Gaara is the most powerful genin here," Naruto corrected her. "If you and your team run into him, run or he will kill you all."

"We're stronger than you think," protested Lee.

"You are strong, but he's a lot stronger. You don't have to believe me but I hope you'll put a little trust in me. If you cross paths with him at any time, you run," Naruto tried to make it as clear as he could. He didn't want any Konoha shinobi to die if he could help it.

"Ha, never thought you to be chicken, Naruto," Kiba cracked in.

"It's not chicken," said Sakura. "Gaara is extremely dangerous. He's right too that you should run if you ever face him."

"Like you're one to talk, little miss Fangirl," snapped Kiba, choosing to insult her rather than even consider the free advice.

Sakura narrowed her eyes but restrained herself from retaliating.

"Kiba-kun," stuttered Hinata, trying to calm the situation.

"Stay out of this," snarled Kiba, his eyes fixed on Sakura.

Hinata instantly shied away.

"Oi, what the hell is wrong with you?" demanded Naruto. "You don't need to talk to Hinata like that. She's only trying to stop you from making an ass of yourself, something you seem determined to do anyway."

Kiba flinched slightly but didn't back down. His pack instincts telling him to establish himself as the alpha. "I'll kick your ass too, Naruto."

"That's enough, you maggots," shouted a new voice in the room, this one older and laced with a killing intent.

Kiba spared one last glare at Naruto and Sakura both before giving his attention to the proctor.

"My name is Morino Ibiki, the proctor for the first stage of the Chuunin Selection Exams. Now, form a line. You'll each get a seat assignment," ordered the man, ushering the genin to move immediately.

Naruto moved just as the rest did, looking around at the various genin in the room when he noticed something. There were a handful of 'genin' in line that had levels in the upper thirties, way too high to be taking this test. He also noticed that the 'genin' had a title that read 'Chuunin' next to their names.

"Strange," whispered Naruto.

"What's that?" asked Shikamaru, he was standing in line behind Naruto.

"Some of the people in taking the test aren't genin, they're chuunin," he whispered back.

"Troublesome, they're plants for something then."

"Plants? Like spies?"

"Maybe," Shikamaru answered, he was trying to quickly work through various scenarios. "I would guess that these guys have the test answers and we have to steal them."

"Steal them how? And why steal them?"

"The test is probably stupid hard, so the real test isn't about answering the questions, it's about acquiring the answers," he explained.

"We should tell the other rookies," Naruto stated.

"Yeah, yeah, but be discreet about it."

Naruto and Shikamaru were able to inform the other rookie genin before they got to the front of the line and were assigned a seat.

As luck would have it, Naruto was seated next to Hinata, a friendly, if slightly red, face.

"In a minute, you will flip over the paper in front of you. You have one hour to answer the first nine questions. The tenth question will be given at the end of the hour. If you are caught cheating you will lose two points. If you lose six points you and your team automatically fail," explained Ibiki, setting an atmosphere in the room that was thick with tension and nervousness.

Admittedly, even Naruto felt the pressure from the man, even knowing that it was all a trick. He just had to figure out how to cheat without getting caught. He knew Sasuke's magic eyes would help him get the answers and Sakura was probably smart enough to answer the questions on her own.

"You may begin," called Ibiki.

Naruto wasn't ready for him to call a start to the exam, he hadn't figured out how to cheat yet. Naruto would have panicked more if his body hadn't begun moving on its own, filling in the answers. Naruto glanced down and saw a shadow stretched along the floor going to most of the rookie nine genin. Naruto couldn't resist grinning. He'd owe Shikamaru big time for this.

It took Shikamaru about twenty minutes to fill in all the answers and when he answered the last question he released his hold. Naruto watched Shikamaru breathe a sigh of relief before putting his head down and closing his eyes.

Naruto glanced to his right to see Hinata too had finished her test and was just waiting for the next phase.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 25000 Exp**

**Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 1**

**Successfully complete the first stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Pass the exam.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Successfully cheat without losing any points.**

**?**

**Completion Award: 50000 Exp**

**25000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

Naruto tried not to look surprised when he was notified of the Bonus Objective Completion. He was very surprised to discover that he missed a bonus objective. He'd never missed an objective before, bonus or otherwise, not counting the stupid kunai and shuriken quests in the academy.

Naruto tried to reflect back on everything that happened from the time he entered the test room and accepted the quest. What was odd? What could he have missed in that time? Then it hit him, Kabuto was odd. Why would a shinobi that is potentially stronger than Kakashi be here? With a genin team no less. Then there was the information he was giving away. Was he another plant? But couldn't they have done the same with any of the other hidden proctors? Then there was the fact that he even admitted to failing the exam before, seven times before. If his level was that high, he should have passed easily.

Naruto found himself jotting a few notes on the back of his test, he wasn't prepared for Ibiki to call for them to put their pencils down.

"Okay, maggots, time for the last question," the man began. "But first, there is a special rule for this question. If you choose to take it and answer wrong not only will you fail this test but you'll never be permitted to apply for Chuunin again."

The statement was followed by a cacophony of protests from the genin present.

"But I took this test last year, you're lying," protested a genin from Suna loudly.

"That's too bad, I wasn't the proctor last year. Anyone who wants to give up can quit now and try again next year."

Naruto watched in morbid fascination as the genin in the room started dropping like flies, one would leave followed by his less than pleased teammates. Naruto knew that if he or any of his team quit then there would be no next time, it would destroy the team instantly. So he had to risk it and hope that he could answer the question.

Naruto watched and waited, Ibiki regularly taunting the room at large, getting more and more to give up. Then Naruto saw Hinata start to raise her hand as if to quit. He couldn't let that happen.

"To hell with you and your damned question," he found himself shouting. "I'll take it, what kind of shinobi doesn't like a little risk now and then."

"This is your career we're talking about here, boy," replied Ibiki.

"I'm going to be Hokage someday, so even if you bar me from ever taking the test again I'll still become Hokage and then I'll fire your ass making up such a fucked up rule."

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 25000 Exp**

**Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 1**

**Successfully complete the first stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Pass the exam.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Successfully cheat without losing any points.**

**Inspire your fellow genin.**

**Completion Award: 50000 Exp**

**25000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

"I see," said Ibiki, glancing at the rest of the room, seeing that any fear he'd previously established had been washed away. "In that case, you pass."

**Objective Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp**

**Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 1**

**Successfully complete the first stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Pass the exam.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Successfully cheat without losing any points.**

**Inspire your fellow genin.**

**Completion Award: 50000 Exp**

**25000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

"What?" Naruto asked, feeling thrown for a loop by the response. "What do you mean 'you pass'?"

"The final question was to see who was willing to risk everything even in the face of dire consequences. Those who chose to remain answered the question correctly and therefore pass this portion of the exam."

"What about the rest of the questions?" asked Temari, anger evident on her face.

"They will be counted into your overall consideration for promotion. Now-"

The window shattered inward, interrupting whatever else Ibiki was planning to say.

Instead, the man was now obscured from view by a large black tarp with white lettering painted on it stating 'Proctor for the 2nd Exam, the Fabulous Mitarashi Anko!'

"You guys, I am the proctor for the second exam! Mitarashi Anko!" she shouted her introduction. "Let's move on to the next stage!"

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV27** Next Level: **7.11%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **4722/4722

**CP: **3509/3509

**STR: **61 (31.10) = 92.10

**VIT: **56 (146.20) = 472.20

**DEX: **61 (44.30) = 105.30

**INT: **63 (17.88) = 350.88

**WIS: **56 (39.48) = 95.48

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **239 (59.75) = 298.75

**SPD: **41 (77.04) = 118.04

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **15

**Ryo: **624000

**Professional Skill****:**

**[Fuinjutsu (Active) Lv39 Exp 14.11% CP: 20]**

A professional skill allowing you to create seals that can be used to improve your gear, make explosives or just seal stuff away for later.

**[Kibaku Fuda Grade 3] – **A mid quality explosive tag. Stats: 75-125 explosive damage, 10 meter explosive radius.

**[Storage Scroll Grade 3] – **A mid quality storage scroll. Can hold up to 80 kilograms of material.

**[Shosen Fuda Grade 2] – **A low to mid quality tag charged with healing chakra. Restores 250-300 HP to any target it is applied to.

**[+50 DEF &amp; +20 VIT to Chest] –** Improve your gear by increasing the defense provided by 50 points and vitality by 20 points.

**[+50 DEF &amp; +20 INT to Chest] – **Improve your gear by increasing the defense provided by 50 points and intelligence by 20 points.

**[+8 DEX to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the dexterity provided by 8 points.

**[+8 WIS to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the wisdom provided by 8 points.

**[+8 STR to Forearm] – **Improve your gear by increasing the strength provided by 8 points.

**[+8 DEX to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the dexterity provided by 8 points.

**[+8 STR to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the strength provided by 8 points.

**[+8 WIS to Shin] – **Improve your gear by increasing the wisdom provided by 8 points.

**[+75 VIT to Legs] – **Improve your gear by increasing the vitality provide by 75 points.

**[+75 INT to Legs] – **Improve your gear by increasing the intelligence provide by 75 points.

**Reputation****:**

**Higurashi Weapons – Honored 5250/10000**

**Konoha General Store – Unfriendly 350/1000**

**Yakiniku Q – Unfriendly 350/1000**

**Farm Stand – Unfriendly 350/1000**

**Konoha Apothecary – Unfriendly – 350/1000**


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: There were questions about the Fuinjutsu on Naruto's gear. Each piece of gear can only have one active fuinjutsu at a time. It was also questioned why Naruto's strength dropped and his dexterity went up. Naruto changed out two of his +5 strength fuinjutsu for two +8 dexterity fuinjutsu.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

Naruto and company followed Anko out of the KSA. She led them through the village toward the north side of the village and through two empty training fields until they came to a large fenced off area.

"Welcome to Training Field 44, or as I like to call it, The Forest of Death. This is where we'll be hosting the second stage but before any of you go inside you'll have to sign these releases."

"Releases for what?" asked one of the genin.

"In case you die in there. We don't want any liability issues," she explained, smiling the whole time.

"She's a little nuts," whispered Naruto. He would have commented further when he found his thoughts interrupted by a kunai flying toward his face, just slightly cutting his face.

"Little brats who don't pay attention often end up dead first," whispered a silky and dangerous voice in his ear. He then felt a tongue lick his cheek, specifically where he'd just been cut.

"Mmm, you taste good," moaned the proctor.

"Excuse me, but you dropped this," said yet another voice from behind Anko and him both. This time the tongue that came out had a kunai wrapped in it, threatening to cut Anko's throat.

"Thank you," said Anko, tapping the-would-be-assassin's inner thigh with another kunai.

The three of them separated at that point, the situation obviously resolved.

Naruto paid extra attention to look at the one that attacked Anko, something about him gave Naruto the chills.

**Orochimaru Lv?**

Naruto frowned, he didn't remember this person from their spying during the week leading up to the exam. He would have remembered, but then he didn't recognize the face either which means he may have arrived when they weren't watching the gate. But still, he felt like he should know that name but he couldn't remember where or why it was important.

"Naruto, let's go," called Sakura, snapping him out of his daze.

Naruto rushed to join them, the mystery man quickly forgotten, a mistake that would haunt him soon enough.

After they each signed one of the forms, Naruto accepted the scroll for his team, putting it in his inventory, then together they went to their assigned entrance gate.

On the way to the gate a blue message pop up with a very unusual quest message.

**Hidden Objective Completion Awarded 100000 Exp**

**Hidden Quest Alert: The Mystery of Kabuto**

**Uncover the many secrets surrounding Yakushi Kabuto.**

**Hidden Objectives:**

**Draw the attention of the Proctor's to Yakushi's activities.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 10000000 Exp**

**Title: Tantei**

**100000 Exp per Hidden Objective.**

"What the fuck?" grumbled Naruto, reading through the quest. "How the hell did I get this?" Luckily, Sasuke was far enough ahead to not hear him but he did draw a look from Sakura.

"What happened?"

"I uncovered some kind of Hidden Quest."

"What's that mean?"

"So the whole thing is hidden. I don't know what the objectives are until I've accomplished the objective. There is also no time limit to it. Either I complete it or I don't."

"Is it even worth it?"

"Yeah, it gives me a ton of experience but it also gives me a new title, 'Tantei'."

"Detective, huh? What would that do for you?"

"Don't know, won't know until I actually get it but who knows when that will happen. But it still left the question as to how he had drawn attention from the proctors. Then it occurred to him, the notes he'd left on the back of his test. The proctor must have looked at them.

Any further reflection was stalled by the arrival at their assigned entrance gate.

"Give me the scroll," ordered Sasuke, turning to face them with his back to the closed gate.

"Nope," said Naruto, smirking.

"Give me the scroll, I'm stronger than you. I can protect it and you can't."

"Tell you what, if you can find the scroll on me you can take it," offered Naruto, holding his arms out to his side openly. There was no way for Sasuke to ever find it because it was in his inventory, a place that only he could access, it was a win-win situation.

Sasuke quickly patted Naruto down, then checked his pouches. "Seals?"

"Of course," said Naruto, enjoying his victory.

"Fine," grunted Sasuke, turning away and looking into the forest, waiting for the gate to be opened. It was clear from his body language he was not pleased.

"So do we have a plan for getting the other scroll?" asked Sakura.

"Find another team and take theirs?" Naruto half asked, half stated.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "We can rush to the tower and set an ambush for a team coming in with both scrolls. We could also try hunting through the forest but there is a chance we'll never run into another team or that we'll run into Gaara's team."

"What about trying to team up with Shikamaru's team?" Naruto asked thoughtfully.

"That would be great, assuming we can find them."

"We don't need to team up with anyone, they'll slow us down." Sasuke was feeling rather prickly it seemed. It was clear, he didn't like that Naruto was carrying the scroll or that he could not find the scroll on Naruto to take for himself.

"Then what do you want to do, Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura, exasperated.

"Easy, we find other teams, take their scrolls and then go to the tower," he answered as if it was just that easy.

"Why are you being so damn stubborn about all this?" asked Naruto. "We can't just go into this blind. We have to be a team right now. What the hell do you think it means to be chuunin anyway?"

"I don't care about chuunin," he answered. "I'm here to fight strong opponents. There is no other reason to be here."

Naruto wanted to scream and pull his hair out. "Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?"

"Why would I kid about this? I don't care if we pass this test, I need to get stronger and the best way to do that is to fight strong opponents."

"Sasuke, do you understand that if we get to chuunin rank we can get higher rank missions. And with higher rank mission we have the chance to fight strong opponents. What is so hard to understand about this?" argued Naruto.

"Hn," he grunted.

Any further argument was stalled by the gate opening and Sasuke entering, jumping into the canopy.

"Asshole," griped Naruto, following after him.

Sakura just sighed before giving chase to her team.

As soon as Naruto passed through the gate two blue windows popped up.

The first was the new quest for the second stage.

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 2**

**Successfully complete the second stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Acquire a Heaven scroll and Earth scroll.**

**Reach the central tower inside of five days.**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

Even as he accepted the quest, he was focused on the argument with Sasuke. He wasn't happy with Sasuke's attitude going into this. If he'd known at the start of today that Sasuke was going to pull this shit, he might not have bothered to show up for it. It was needlessly putting all of their lives in danger.

The second window was the training field description.

**Training Field 44 – **Lovingly called 'The Forest of Death' by one Mitarashi Anko, this forest really is a place of death as many a shinobi have fallen to that which lurks within. As to their deaths, as if dying by Shinobi weren't enough, in this place the forest itself can kill you just as easily. War Zone. Recommended Level: 26.

Naruto's first question is what the hell did it mean 'War Zone'? Then as if to answer his question his [Observe] activated on the word.

**War Zone – **A large map designated for combat with no set path or course to take. All areas are able to be explored or used for combat.

That was a bit different but it made sense. Most of the training fields seemed to follow a single path to the end with very little open space to explore and fight, or maybe it was that the monsters seemed to lead him along a single path.

Naruto shook himself to refocus on his current surroundings. Sasuke was ahead of them leaping through the forest, doing his best to put some distance between them and the gate. It was quite foolish going into this without more of a plan than to just go in and find people to fight.

Naruto almost over shot Sasuke when he suddenly stopped. Luckily, he was able to stop on the branch next to him with Sakura stopping on the other side of Sasuke.

Sasuke pointed down below them to a group of genin from Suna, not Gaara's team thankfully. "They're mine."

Naruto saw the three unaware genin below, two were level seventeen and one was level nineteen.

Without a plan, Sasuke dropped down on them from above, killing two of them instantly with a kunai to the back of the neck, severing their spinal cords like cutting the strings of a puppet.

The remaining genin turned swiftly, his eyes wide and panicked. He tried to run only for Sasuke to decapitate him with his chokuto.

"That was disappointing," Sasuke said, wiping his blade and sheathing it.

"And stupid," commented Naruto. "You could have easily knocked them all out, killing them was completely unnecessary."

Sasuke ignored him, choosing to jump back into the trees.

Naruto dropped from the trees and quickly searched the bodies, collecting another Heaven scroll and stashing it in his inventory with the other one**.**

**Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 2**

**Successfully complete the second stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Acquire a Heaven scroll and Earth scroll.**

**Reach the central tower inside of five days.**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Acquire an extra Heaven scroll.**

**?**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

He was quickly back into the trees in an attempt to catch up with Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto didn't like this plan. It relied way too much on luck as opposed to strategy. He was less pleased when he was forced to suddenly duck a hail of kunai and shuriken. The attack forced him out of the trees and down to the ground where he was surrounded by six Suna genin.

"You killed our friends," stated one of them, clearly the leader of this little group.

Of course Sasuke and Sakura kept going, not even noticing him being ambushed. Eventually they would notice and circle back but for now he was on his own against six genin from levels sixteen to twenty-one at the highest.

"We don't have to do this, you can walk away now," offered Naruto, it was a bluff . . . mostly a bluff. He was in a very dangerous situation. For now, his best hope was to scatter them and take them out one at a time.

Naruto was quick to use [Kage Bunshin no Jutsu] making almost thirty clones, fifteen immediately attacking the other genin, actually managing to critically wound two of them. The other fifteen and himself ran in all directions, causing confusion and discord with the remaining genin.

Naruto smirked as one of the genin actually managed to follow him directly. The poor boy chasing him never saw the two shadow clones attacking from both sides, knocking him to the ground and then out cold.

Naruto came back to him and tied him up searching his pockets but finding nothing. His search was interrupted when he got the memory from one of his clones being killed. It also served to give away the killers location.

Naruto and the two clones with him nodded wordlessly to each other, leaping into the tree canopy.

It didn't take long for Naruto find the killer. He'd regrouped with the other Suna genin. Naruto smirked a little, this was more manageable than before but still quite dangerous, now they were expecting him.

"This was supposed to be easy," one complained.

"Shut it Touji, this is the fucking chuunin exam, if it were easy everyone would pass."

"This all your fault, Josu," said another. "My team is dead because of your stupid plan."

"You were as eager for this as the rest of us, Nari. We all knew the risks," Josu countered.

"So what now, we're basically disqualified?" Touji asked.

It was clear to Naruto that Josu was the leader of the ambush on him.

"We kill that bastard then we go home."

Naruto had heard enough, he signaled to his clones to attack. The plan was to separate them again and try to pick them off one by one.

A dozen clones dropped from the canopy above and began a relentless assault, easily driving them away from each other.

When the clones slammed Nari into a tree knocking the air from her lungs, Naruto dropped in front of her and slammed her head into the tree, knocking her out. Two clones picked her up and disappeared back into the trees to tie her up. But not before Naruto claimed another Heaven scroll.

Naruto's next target was Touji, he was level eighteen and not faring well against the clones, Naruto could see the boy's health dropping rapidly. Before Naruto could get to him the boy was run through from behind, Sasuke and Sakura had finally circled back.

Naruto turned toward the last one to see him screaming and clutching his head before passing out.

"You're getting scary good at genjutsu," Naruto complimented Sakura, watching her drop down from her hiding spot in the canopy above.

Sakura smiled. "Thanks. You okay?"

"I'm fine, they were kind of stupid about the ambush. Idiots felt the need to talk before trying to kill me. They ended up giving me the time I needed to create a distraction to scatter them." He explained while searching Josu's body for a scroll, eventually pilfering an Earth scroll. Quickly adding it to his inventory.

"We've got all the scrolls?" asked Sakura, knowing the answer already.

"Yeah, we can go to the tower now."

"We're not going yet. There are more people to fight here," said Sasuke, leaping back into the trees.

"This is stupid," commented Sakura, finally having enough.

"Should we knock him out and drag him to the tower?" asked Naruto.

"Probably not the best idea," she replied, feeling a bit sad about the situation.

"Come on, we'd better follow him before he bites off more than he can chew," suggested Naruto.

Sakura nodded and together then followed after Sasuke.

It was a few hours later, Sasuke finally decided to take a break. They had eliminated just one more team in that time, this team was genjutsu specialists from Amegakure.

Naruto was quick to replenish his chakra and heal as was Sakura. Sasuke even sat to eat something and drink some water.

"Okay, we should get moving," said Sasuke.

"To the tower?" asked Naruto, suspecting that Sasuke had no intention of going to the tower until the last possible moment.

"I told you, there are more opponents to fight out here," he countered easily. "We have five days, there is no rush to get to the tower."

"And if the crazy lady lied, what if we really only have two days?"

"Then too bad, as long as there are opponents here to fight, we stay here."

"This is stupid, you're being selfish," argued Sakura. "This might not matter to you but it matters a lot to Naruto and I."

"And I told you, I don't care."

Naruto would have argued further but a sudden spike in killing intent put him on guard. He was able to push Sakura out of the way just in time to dodge a giant ball of wind, unfortunately he took the brunt of it, sending him careening though the air uncontrollably.

Naruto landed roughly bouncing a few times before coming to a suddenly halt against a rather thick tree root.

"Oh, that hurt," he groaned, slow to pick himself up off the ground. His vision was a bit fuzzy and there was a ringing in his ears. He had to shake his head a few times to clear the cobwebs and ringing. Once he had, he really wished he hadn't.

**Snake Summon Lv30**

The giant snake maw descended upon him swallowing him whole before he could do anything about it.

Naruto was not happy as he was being squeezed from all sides and his skin was being burned by the slime oozing over him most likely the snake's stomach acid. Naruto tried to find purchase but it was much too slick to do so, as a result he seemed to be sliding deeper and deeper down the snake's gullet. Naruto finally unsealed a kunai and jabbed it into the stomach lining, halting his slide into the beast's stomach. Naruto then pulled another kunai, this time charging it with [Chakra Nagashi] and slicing into it, trying to cut his way out of the snake.

Naruto had to hack at it for a while but eventually he cut a hole large enough for him to crawl out of only to face a pissed off giant snake.

Naruto leaped suddenly to avoid a strike by the snake, trying to eat him once again.

"Eat me once, shame on you. Eat me twice, shame on me."

Naruto used [Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu] several times, aiming for the snakes face and eyes trying to slow it down if nothing else. Sadly, its hide was thick and the mud balls barely did any damage to it at all, however the mud did obscure its vision slowing it down a little bit at least.

Naruto still had to be quick to dodge as the snake's attacks were quick and still mostly accurate. Naruto continued to pepper the snake with varying attacks but not doing enough damage to even slow the summon.

Naruto threw a [Shrapnel Kunai] into the snakes open maw, hoping its insides might be more vulnerable than it exterior hide.

The explosion in the mouth was muffled slightly but it was enough to drop the snake. It bled from the mouth and writhed in pain for a moment before suddenly vanishing in a giant puff of smoke.

Naruto would have been happy to sit down at that point and recover but he had to find his team. Someone attacked them, someone powerful used that wind jutsu to separate them. That the person responsible also summoned a snake to keep Naruto occupied made him a lot more worried, summon contracts were not easy to come by.

Naruto kept an eye on Sakura's health and status bar which so far looked to be full. When it suddenly dropped below half, he got really worried and picked up the pace of travel.

When Naruto finally arrived, he took a moment to survey the enemy and his team. Sasuke was doing his best to hold off the enemy shinobi but it was clear to see that he was being toyed with.

Sakura was unconscious, hanging limply over a nearby tree branch. Naruto could clearly see one side of her face was covered in blood, thankfully it looked like the blood was drying and not increasing.

Naruto looked at the shinobi attacking them. It was Orochimaru, the guy with the ridiculously high level he'd seen early. Naruto knew they had no hope of defeating him but maybe they'd be able to escape with their lives.

"And what are you planning?" asked voice from over his shoulder.

Naruto rotated swiftly, instantly putting chakra into his kunai and slicing off the head of whoever snuck up on him. It was another Orochimaru, but this one seemed to melt into a pile of mud and dirt.

Naruto was quick to move as two more Orochimaru attacked him, preventing him from getting to either Sasuke or Sakura.

"I must say, I'm surprised you lasted this long," complimented Orochimaru. "Considering you were dead last, I expected you to be dead first."

"I'm not so easy to kill," Naruto growled, trying to analyze the situation he was in.

Orochimaru didn't give him much time to think and was quick to attack.

Naruto had to scramble to dodge the attacks against him. Orochimaru was faster, and stronger, even if it was just a mud clone. The fact there were two made it even worse.

Naruto ducked a roundhouse kick and much to his own surprise was able to stick an explosive tag to the clone. Naruto replace himself with a clone and detonated taking out the mud clone as well as his own clone.

Naruto was left with just the one clone now and he didn't look like it was in the mood to toy with him anymore.

Naruto was running out of options and chakra quickly. He was spawning clones as fast as he could and they were being decimated just as quickly. He was getting desperate to get himself and his team away from there but Orochimaru wasn't leaving any openings.

Then Naruto saw something from the corner of his eye. On the branch Sakura limply from, there was a small snake slithering toward her.

Naruto felt the familiar rush of energy that accompanied Kyuubi's chakra, healing him, replenishing his chakra and making him angry. Naruto's push as much chakra into his speed skills as he could, vanishing from view. Naruto landed next to Sakura, his kunai already slicing through the snake. Naruto looked back to see the last mud clone breaking apart.

Naruto refocused on Orochimaru. The man was still taunting Sasuke, playing with him. Naruto was not amused. He vanished once more, when he reappeared it was in an attempt to behead the man, a move Orochimaru easily ducked under.

Orochimaru frowned at the interruption, he punched Naruto in the stomach with as much strength as he could. His frown deepened when the Naruto he struck burst into to smoke. Then he felt several blades stab him in the back.

Naruto thought it was over, until the man laughed after being stabbed. Naruto had to move quickly as the one he'd stabbed melted into mud again. He wasn't quite fast enough as nice slice was cut clean through his coat and into his ribs doing a significant amount of damage and leaving behind a rather unpleasant poison.

Naruto could feel the Kyuubi's chakra trying to fight it off but whatever it was, it was strong. It was also distracting so Naruto didn't see the roundhouse kick travelling rapidly toward his face until it was too late.

Naruto hit hard into the trunk of one of the giant trees that surrounded him. He didn't take much damage but it certainly dazed him.

Orochimaru had apparently had enough of the fight, because Naruto could barely make out Orochimaru's neck elongating and sinking his teeth into Sasuke's neck followed by Sasuke screaming in pain. Naruto saw Orochimaru speaking to Sasuke but couldn't make out the words.

Naruto shook himself out of his daze just in time to see Sasuke starting to fall. He leaped the distance catching Sasuke under one arm then landing with his feet sticking to the trunk of a large tree. He looked back to see if Orochimaru was coming after him but the man was just gone.

Naruto climbed back up the tree and set Sasuke next to Sakura. He then fell back against the trunk of the tree and slid down to sit, facing his unconscious teammates. He could feel the last traces of Kyuubi's chakra fading from his system and with that he felt exhaustion setting in.

**Objective Completed.**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 2**

**Successfully complete the second stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Acquire a Heaven scroll and Earth scroll.**

**Reach the central tower inside of five days.**

**Survive Orochimaru's onslaught.**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Acquire an extra Heaven scroll.**

**?**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

Naruto allowed himself to rest only for a few minutes. When he stood again, he used a few healing tags on both Sakura and Sasuke to at least stabilize them. Then, he made few clones to carry his teammates. The only goal for him now was to get them to the tower as soon as possible and get them medical help.

Naruto thanked whatever kami there was that he'd made it to the tower unhindered. It took several hours to traverse the terrain but the effort was worth it. Once inside the tower entrance Naruto set both of his teammates down, taking the time to properly heal Sakura and even Sasuke. Sakura actually woke up halfway through being fully healed.

"What happened?" she asked, wincing from sitting up too fast.

"Some dude named Orochimaru just kicked our asses," answered Naruto, continuing his treatment on Sakura.

"Is he dead?" she asked, unfocused while Naruto continued to heal her with tags.

"No, he bit Sasuke then disappeared. If he hadn't left I'm sure he would have killed me and you both."

"What about Sasuke?"

"Like I said, he bit him and left. I don't know what he did to Sasuke but he's running a hell of a fever, even after I healed him to full health."

Sakura nodded, then move to prop Sasuke up to examine him.

"Did you see this?" asked Sakura, pointing to Sasuke's shoulder where he'd been bitten.

"No, that wasn't there before," answered Naruto, his [Observe] activating with a flashing red warning.

**Ten no Juin – **The Cursed Seal of Heaven grants its bearer increased chakra and physical capabilities but at a great cost assuming the bearer even survives the initial bonding process. It slowly erodes the bearer sanity while also acting as addictive as the strongest opiate.

"That is a nasty fucking piece of work," said Naruto, shivering slightly.

"What is it?" asked Sakura.

Naruto relayed what he'd learned of it, leaving Sakura worried.

"Look, we're in the tower now, we just need to get some help but the doors are all locked," said Naruto.

Sakura looked around the room. "Did you even read the riddle?"

"That was a riddle? How the hell was I supposed to know that?"

"Give me the scrolls," said Sakura, holding out an impatient hand.

Naruto pulled the scrolls they'd acquired and handed them to Sakura.

Sakura then opened the earth scroll and one of the heaven scrolls at the same time before tossing them on the ground in front of them.

"Yo," greeted Kakashi, as the smoke cleared. "You got here fast."

"Sensei, Sasuke's in real trouble," said Naruto, cutting straight to the point.

Kakashi moved smoothly around the genin, before kneeling down to examine Sasuke, his eye zeroing in on the cursed seal immediately. "You need to tell me everything that happened in that forest."

Sakura gave a quick explanation of the fight with Orochimaru.

"And you didn't see him before the start of the exam?" asked Kakashi.

"I did, but I thought he might have been another plant like in the first test or maybe something else. I mean, that Kabuto guy was all question marks too so I thought maybe it was a trick."

"And the name Orochimaru didn't ring any bells?"

"I thought it was familiar but I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before."

"You idiot," Sakura all but screamed. "Orochimaru is a wanted criminal, he's S-Class for kami's sake. He was one of the Sannin."

Naruto felt the blood drain from his face. "Oh shit. I didn't remember. All of this could have been avoided if I had just remembered. I could have warned the proctor before the exam even started."

"Stop worrying about it. You did the best you could in the situation, at least you were suspicious that something was up. You were also smart enough to get your team here as fast as possible once they were both down," Kakashi reassured him.

Unfortunately, Kakashi's attempt at reassuring him did nothing to assuage the guilt he was feeling at that moment. "I need a bingo book," he said suddenly. "I can't ever make a mistake like this again."

"We'll get you one after the exam," said Kakashi, picking up Sasuke, carrying the limp and feverish boy. "Follow me, this part of the exam is done for now."

**Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp.**

**Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp.**

**Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp.**

**Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp.**

**Quest Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp.**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 2.**

**Successfully complete the second stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Acquire a Heaven scroll and Earth scroll.**

**Reach the central tower inside of five days.**

**Survive Orochimaru's onslaught.**

**Solve the riddle of heaven and earth to complete stage two of the exam.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Reach the central tower in less than 24 hours.**

**Reach the central tower in less than 48 hours.**

**Reach the central tower in less than 72 hours.**

**Reach the central tower in less than 96 hours.**

**?**

**Acquire an extra Heaven scroll.**

**?**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

**Your teammate Sakura's level has increased by 1.**

Naruto closed the message windows and followed his sensei and Sakura into the building.

"Dorms up and to the right, I'll be taking Sasuke for treatment. You have a few days to recover here in the tower. That said, don't leave the tower for any reason, you won't be able to get back in without two more scrolls." Kakashi explained before vanishing with Sasuke in his arms.

"That sucked," said Naruto.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's okay, it was moronic of me to miss that," Naruto recriminated. "I still can't believe we survived that."

"Thanks in no small part to you I'm sure," said Sakura, hanging her head a bit. "He was so powerful. I tried to just slow him down a bit with a genjutsu, it didn't even work. He just shrugged it off like it was nothing, the he hit me, just once. That was all it took to take me out of that fight. He back handed me and I vaguely remember bouncing off the tree trunk before everything went dark."

Naruto gave Sakura an awkward one armed hug trying to reassure her. Somehow it seemed to work to calm her down a bit.

"What happened to you anyway?" she asked.

"That guy was Orochimaru the White Snake right?"

"Yeah."

"Known for his summoning contract with snakes. I met one of them. It was a bit big. Turned me into a small snack. It was very uncool." Naruto tried to add a bit of levity to the situation, maybe reassure her a bit.

Sakura tried not to giggle at the thought of Naruto being eaten by a giant snake but she couldn't help but laugh a little.

"It's not that funny, I'm sure I still smell like snake," he said, then gave himself a slight sniff only to blanch at the horrific odor.

"You really do smell awful," said Sakura, not moving to break the still awkward hug.

"Right," said Naruto, ending the hug. "I'm going to find the showers and maybe a laundry."

"Good luck with that, I'm going to sleep."

Naruto gave her a small wave before wandering off to find a shower. He didn't expect to run into Kiba along the way.

"Damn dude, you fucking stink," whined the boy, clenching his hands over his face and nose.

"Did you get eaten by a giant snake out there? Didn't think so."

"Sorry, sorry," apologized Kiba, not relinquishing the hold he had over his nose protecting his delicate sense of smell.

"When did you guys get here?"

"About an hour ago, you?"

"Maybe twenty minutes ago, were you the first to arrive?"

"No, that Suna team you warned us about got here first. One of the chuunin said they shattered the previous record by like, ten hours."

"Told you they were dangerous," said Naruto.

"You were right," said Kiba, wincing even as he said the words. "Look, about before. I'm sorry I was such a dick about that. You were right to warn us. We saw him in the forest. He defeated this team from Rain without even lifting a finger. Hell, he didn't just defeat them, he butchered them like it was nothing. It was totally fucked up."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. Did he let you go without a fight?"

"I think so, I mean, the guy looked right at where we were hiding and then just walked away."

Naruto was dreading the possibility of having to deal with that guy during the exams. But given he was a jinchuuriki, it would probably be expected if it came down to it.

"Anyway, you know where the showers are?"

"Yeah, I'll show you the way, you really need it."

"Again, eaten by a giant snake."

Kiba couldn't help but snicker at Naruto's misfortune.

"Laugh it up, hairball."

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV28** Next Level: **3.12%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **4822/4822

**CP: **3609/3609

**STR: **61 (31.10) = 92.10

**VIT: **56 (146.20) = 482.20

**DEX: **61 (46.13) = 107.13

**INT: **63 (17.88) = 360.88

**WIS: **56 (40.04) = 96.04

**LUK:** ?

**DEF: **239 (59.75) = 298.75

**SPD: **41 (78.27) = 119.27

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **20

**Ryo: **624000

**[Beginner Kage no Uzuken Taijutsu (Passive) LvMax]**

Uzuken is the traditional taijutsu style of the Uzumaki Clan. It relies on hit and run tactics, attacking from multiple directions and angles causing confusion and disorientation to opponents. Often used with weapons to great effect. Kageken relies heavily on the use of Kage Bunshin. Designed to use coordinated strikes between the user and his clones to close on his opponent to inflict damage and evade damage at the same time. Highly effective but very difficult to learn given the chakra burdens of Kage Bunshin. The combination of the two styles has created something new and very dangerous for anyone stupid enough to face a master of such a style. (Requires 'Intermediate Kageken Taijutsu' and 'Intermediate Uzuken Taijutsu' to upgrade.)

Passively increases STR 10%

Passively increases VIT 20%

Passively increases DEX 20%

**[Chakra Nagashi (Active) Lv29 Exp 44.44% CP: 14 per 5 seconds]**

Flowing chakra into weapons can make them stronger increasing the damage they deal. 84% increase in attack damage, 50% increase critical rate. Damages weapon made from non-chakra conductive weapons.

**[Chakra Speed (Active/Passive) Lv26 Exp: 13.24% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Chakra flowing through your body has been focused into your muscles granting a new level of speed and dexterity. Applying a little more chakra can make you even faster but be careful you don't destroy your muscles in the process.

Passively increases DEX 13%

Passively increases SPD 33%

Additional 1% speed per activation.

Additional 100 damage per 5 seconds taken when activated more than 26 times at once.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: So here it is, the longest chapter to date, hope you all appreciate the long slog to finish up the prelims in just one giant ass chapter of epicness. Anyway, enjoy and to those of you who wanted the missed quest objectives, you can find the full quest at the bottom.

A/N2: So, there was a lot of dislike of my portrayal of Sasuke last chapter. One of the biggest complaints was about Sasuke killing mercilessly. Either some people haven't been paying much attention of you've completely missed the darker undertone that this story has had from early on. Of the members of team seven, Naruto was the first to kill starting with Mizuki. At the start of the wave mission, the three of them together literally blew Gozu and Meizu to chunks of human flesh, only for Kakashi to emotionlessly finish the survivor off. Then Naruto killed the two thugs sent to kidnap Tsunami, only after cutting off the arm of one and then interrogating him. Followed quickly by the bridge in which Sasuke first suggested killing Haku before being overruled by Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke then went on to slaughter the boat filled with thugs eventually sinking it (causing more of them to die) and nabbing Gato and dragging the man to his execution. When have I ever portrayed Sasuke as anything but ruthless in this story?

Now, as to the bashing of Sasuke comments, again, I haven't made Sasuke incompetent, he's just an asshole and a bit of a psychopath, something that is fairly true to canon. Note too, he wasn't killing indiscriminately or just for the fun of it, he was killing to find a challenge and get stronger from it. That he came back for Naruto when he was ambushed by the Suna shinobi, subtly suggests that Sasuke didn't want his teammates to die. And again when Sasuke also stayed and fought Orochimaru, protecting Sakura instead of just running away to save himself. As to what set Sasuke off to begin with, did anyone pay attention to Sasuke being horribly embarrassed/manipulated in front of several genin as they were first entering the exam, Sasuke is inevitably going to lash out and a forest of potential targets to take out his rage on is the perfect outlet.

That said, I just don't understand people's fascination with Sasuke, the guy is an ass of epic proportions. He is so easily manipulated by everyone, first by Itachi and Danzo, then Orochimaru, then Itachi again, then Orochimaru again, then Obito (Tobi), then by Itachi for a third time. He's weak and pathetic mentally but that doesn't change the fact that he is one hell of a shinobi with skill that few can match.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You've slept in a bed. HP &amp; CP are 75% restored.**

Naruto was relieved to get a full night of rest, even if it wasn't his own bed. The past twenty-four hours had been rough. Naruto was still replaying the Orochimaru encounter, trying to figure out what he could have done differently.

Shaking away the darker memory, Naruto looked around the room he shared with Sakura for the night. Her bed was empty and the third bed was untouched showing Sasuke was still getting treatment, assuming he even survived the night.

Rolling off the cot he occupied, Naruto stood tall and stretched his arms over his head, trying to work out any kinks from sleep, not that there ever were any thanks to his [Gamer's Body]. He tested his clothes real quick to see if they had dried from the night before, he ended up having to shower with them to wash them as there were no laundry facilities in the tower. The clothes were still a bit damp but dry enough for his tastes.

After dressing, Naruto set out into the tower to find food, the rumbling in his stomach demanded satisfaction. Eventually he caught a whiff of something delicious and followed his nose to the small dining hall.

Sakura waved him over to a table filled with Konoha genin, the rookies to be exact.

"Morning all," said Naruto, sitting down with the group.

"Morning," returned Sakura, followed by several greetings and grumbles from the other genin.

"Where's Sasuke-kun?" asked Ino, looking anxiously toward the door.

"You didn't tell them?" asked Naruto, looking to Sakura.

Sakura grimaced. "I didn't really know what to say."

"What happened to Sasuke-kun?" asked Ino.

"We were attacked in the forest," answered Naruto.

"Is he . . .?" Ino couldn't finish the sentence.

"I don't know, Kakashi-sensei took him for treatment as soon as we got in the tower," Naruto answered, careful to not lie but not tell everything either. He wasn't really sure on what he was permitted to say so for now he would do his best to say as little about it as possible.

Ino seemed to breathe a small sigh of relief but the worry was still there.

"You guys have any trouble getting here?" asked Naruto, looking to Shikamaru.

"Not really, the first team we ran across had the scroll we needed. After that, it was just a matter of getting here. That was a bit more troublesome. We got delayed avoiding a series of ambushes, we got here at about 3:00 am this morning."

"Yeah, we got in just after midnight," replied Sakura.

"So what's the plan for today?" asked Kiba, the boy was leaning back in his chair with his feet kicked up, resting on the table.

"I'm going to train a bit," answered Naruto. "I saw a large room on the way here that should be big enough to train in."

"Troublesome, I guess I'll join you. It wouldn't be a bad idea to use the time here wisely."

"Heh, I could do with a good spar," said Kiba, a feral grin on his face.

"Can I come?" stuttered Hinata, nervously.

"Of course you can," said Naruto, grinning brightly for the girl. A grin that quickly vanished when Hinata fainted. "What the hell? Why does she keep doing that?"

There was a collective sigh from the assembled genin yet none were willing to answer him.

"What?" he asked, perplexed by their response.

"Don't worry about it," said Ino. "Let's just eat and get to training."

Naruto frowned but complied anyway, getting up to get some food from the limited but delicious spread.

The rest of breakfast was relaxed and filled with laughter. When they finished all eight rookies left together.

The room Naruto had found was large, very large in fact. There were two balconies on either side overlooking the tiled floor. At the end of the room was a statue of hands making the shinobi seal of confrontation and in its shadow was a throne.

"Wonder what this room is used for?" Kiba questioned.

"Probably for fighting evaluations, the Hokage sits there and watches the fights. Spectators stand in the balcony above or maybe other evaluators," guessed Shikamaru.

"Anyway, time to train," said Naruto, looking around the room. Naruto grinned and walked up one of the walls below the balconies. Naruto kept walking until he was hanging upside down.

"Ooh, you can walk up walls, you're so special," joked Kiba, laughing at his own joke.

Naruto glared for a moment before moving on to the reason he'd walked up there. He had to bonus stat points to earn. The funny looks stopped when Naruto did his first hanging sit-up.

**Combining the training of two separate skills into one exercise causes your WIS to go up by 1.**

Naruto smiled happily about that but continued with the exercise. He was surprised to see Kiba join him in the same exercise. He paused a moment to see what everyone was doing. Shikamaru was sprinting from one end of the room to the other. Hinata was going through some kind of kata he wasn't familiar with. Sakura and Ino were challenging each other running up and down the balcony stairs. On the other side of the room, Chouji and Shino were both running up and down the other balcony stairs but there was no challenge between them.

"Oi, if you keep spacing out, I'm going to beat you," said Kiba, drawing Naruto's attention.

"Beat me? At what?"

"Uh, the 'who can do the most hanging sit-ups challenge'," he answered quickly, a small quaver in his voice.

"You just made that up," said Naruto, narrowing his eyes and glaring at him.

"So?"

Naruto paused for a minute then shrugged. Kiba was right, it didn't matter if he just made it up, he just had to win and shut the mutt up once and for all.

The boys were determined to beat each other, so even after Naruto got his two points for strength he kept going. It was surprising to him that had gained another stat point, but this time for vitality. It just increased Naruto's determination to keep going to get that last point of vitality especially if he could beat Kiba in the process.

"Troublesome," complained Shikamaru, watching the two. "Hey, if you two are done being stupid, I had an idea."

"But I'm winning," they both said at the same time.

"Hah, as if," again in a single voice.

Before they could both retort again, Sakura jumped up and grabbed both of them by an ear, forcing them to let go of the balcony ceiling.

"Ow, Sakura-chan," pouted Naruto, rubbing his paining ear.

"So, I had a training idea," Shikamaru started, before anymore complaining or arguing could start.

"What have you got for us, Shikamaru?" asked Chouji, snacking on a bag of chips during the lull in activity.

"Shinobi tag," he answered seriously.

Kiba barked out a laugh.

"What are we, four?" asked Ino, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"Why tag?" asked Sakura, she looked to be considering his suggestion.

"Dexterity training," said Shikamaru. "We can all improve our dexterity by playing shinobi tag. You can use [Chakra Speed] and [Tree Climbing] only. No fighting allowed, this has to be about control and finesse."

Kiba snorted rudely when he heard the word 'finesse'.

"Yes, Kiba, I said 'finesse' as in being delicate and not smashing everything in your path," said Shikamaru. "As to the rest of the rules, once you 'tag' someone you're out until the next round. Whoever lasts longest will be 'it' to start the next round. Any questions?"

"This may seem childish, however, logically this is most beneficial to our training as shinobi. Why? Increasing our dexterity and speed improves our chances of survival. However, would we not benefit more from having two of us being 'it' per round to make the rounds both faster and require us to pay more attention to those eliminated and who replaces them?" Shino didn't talk much or often but when he did, the guy had some really good suggestions.

"I like it," said Naruto, grinning. He really liked Shino's suggestion.

"Troublesome, he's right, it would be more beneficial," said Shikamaru. "A lot more work but definitely more beneficial. So, any volunteers to go first?"

"I will," squeaked Hinata, her voice soft, nervous, and gentle all at once.

"Me too," said Naruto, grinning. He'd go first this time. With the speed he expected this to proceed at it wasn't a big sacrifice if he was out first.

"Okay, then start," said Shikamaru, leaping away and putting on some speed.

"Let's get them, Hinata," crowed Naruto excitedly, giving immediate chase for Kiba.

Hinata nodded nervously then began her own chase, her target though was Sakura.

The genin continued to play for a few hours, even well past all of those in the team with Naruto having gained their bonus stat points. It ended up just being a lot of fun and it really didn't take a ton of skill. As dinner approached the group called it quits and returned to the dining hall for some dinner. They were surprised to see all of their sensei there as well as a few more teams.

Sakura ran to Kakashi to get an update on Sasuke, something Naruto reluctantly followed behind her to do.

"So?"

"He'll live," Kakashi answered. "His body has been put through the ringer by that seal but he survived its placement, he'll be resting a couple more days before he rejoins you here."

"That's good," said Sakura, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Is he mentally stable?" asked Naruto, getting a bit of a dirty look from Sakura. "What? He was fucking nuts in that forest."

"He wasn't nuts, just . . . he seemed like he had something to prove. I don't approve of what he did or the excuse he gave us but I think I understand a little bit of what he was feeling."

Naruto frowned at her. He didn't like her reply but he could see what she was saying. Since the start of the exam when he was embarrassed by that Otonin then with the scroll before the start of the second. He could see where Sasuke might have felt like he had something to prove.

"Fine, I'll accept that for now but that seal is supposed to mess with his mind, right?"

"And how do you know that?" asked Kakashi, lowering his book to meet Naruto's eyes.

"My [Observe] skill told me about the seal on him, it probably helped that I know a lot about sealing now."

"I see," said Kakashi, humming thoughtfully. "I suppose I'll have to keep an eye on him then. Thanks for letting me know. Now, why don't we sit down and have a something to eat."

Naruto sat and ate with the genin and their sensei, they were even joined by the giant green thing that passed for Tenten's sensei.

**You've slept in a bed. HP &amp; CP are 75% restored.**

On the last day of the second stage, Naruto and the rest of the rookies sat in the dining hall with their respective sensei. They were basically sitting on pins and needles as they waited for the clock to hit zero on the timer, just to see if any other teams managed to make through. So far there were five teams from Konoha, one team from Oto and one team from Suna. Considering that so many teams entered it was disturbing that so few made it to this point in the competition.

"Is it just me or is this last hour miserable?" asked Naruto, looking at the clock again.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke. The boy had been returned to them that morning, looking his usual unfriendly self. He gave Naruto a look of contempt but beyond that hadn't really said a word to him except to grunt.

"Use our words, Sasuke," chided Kakashi, his nose buried in his little orange book.

Sasuke sneered for a moment before choosing to look away from the man, crossing his arms at the same time. He was obviously upset but had no interest in explaining why.

Naruto studied Sasuke a little bit to see if he could figure out what was bothering him. Finally, he just used [Observe], he was less than pleased with Sasuke's bullshit Sharingan status change, it was totally overpowered.

**Name: **Uchiha Sasuke

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV27** Next Level: **44.14%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **950/950

**CP: **2350/2350

**STR: **55

**VIT: **95

**DEX:** 254

**INT: **235

**WIS: **172

**LUK: **1

**DEF: **75

**SPD: **203

**Status: Double Tomoe Sharingan **(+7 DEX &amp; +8 INT &amp; +5 WIS per Level),** Avenger** (+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi), **Firebug **(-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10% damage to katon jutsu)

**Uchiha Sasuke is the last loyal surviving member of the infamous Uchiha clan. Well known for their doujutsu the Sharingan which has allowed them to excel as shinobi in the field. His past is clouded by the pain and misery of losing his family so much that vengeance is all that remains to him.**

Further review was interrupted by the doors opening and another team walking in, this one from Kusagakure. Two boys led the way, both looking much worse for wear, one of them was bleeding profusely from the shoulder and looked a hairs' breath away from passing out from blood loss. The other boy walked with a limp and had his arm in a sling. It was the last one to enter that drew Naruto's attention. She had red hair and red eyes, sporting claw marks on her face, they were bloody but appeared to be healing already, she looked a bit haunted and tired but given that she'd made it this far spoke volumes of her potential. Out of all that though there was one thing that drew his attention more than anything.

**Uzumaki Karin Lv 24**

Naruto blinked several times to make sure he was seeing correctly. He even stood up and walked up to her, got right in her face.

Karin shied back a little instantly, her two teammates made a poor effort to protect her taking one step only to collapse tiredly on one of the benches.

"What's your name?" Naruto demanded.

"Karin," she answered with a bit of a nervous stutter.

"Your whole name," he demanded, trying to clarify.

"Just Karin, I don't have a family name to speak of," she replied.

"Hmm," Naruto hummed to himself, considering the girl in front of him.

"What? What is it?"

Naruto studied her a bit more before finally deciding to use [Observe] on her.

**Name: **Uzumaki Karin

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV24** Next Level: **17.41%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **1110/1110

**CP: **950/950

**STR: **28

**VIT: **111

**DEX: **35

**INT:** 95

**WIS: **390

**LUK:** 11

**DEF: **100

**SPD: **36

**Status: Uzumaki **(+10 VIT, +10 INT, +50% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Perfect Control **(+15 WIS per level, -50% cost to all jutsu), **Medic **(-25% cost to iryojutsu, +25% healing to iryojutsu)

**Uzumaki Karin is an outcast within her home of Kusagakure. She was taken when she was young after her parents were murdered in front of her. She holds no loyalty to those that took her, all she really wants is family and a sense of belonging, if only she knew who her family was and where to find them.**

"Hmm," Naruto hummed again, making the girl a bit more uncomfortable. She was moderately strong, good chakra control, adequate HP and CP.

"Just . . . tell me what you want already," Karin finally snapped.

"Cousin, we have a lot to talk about," said Naruto, moving to stand next to her and putting an arm around her and marching her to the table his team was seated at.

"Cousin?" she shouted in shock.

"Yep, cousin," said Naruto, smiling as friendly a smile as he could muster for her.

"How . . . I mean . . . how? How do you know?"

"Your name is Uzumaki Karin, you have the Uzumaki red hair."

"That's it, just my hair?"

"Well, I have another method but . . . it's a bit unusual and you probably won't believe me. But I swear it's true. We can even get tests done or whatever," said Naruto quickly.

"Naruto, who's your new friend?" asked Kakashi, his book oddly absent.

"This is Uzumaki Karin," he replied.

"I'm not sure I'm an Uzumaki or whatever," Karin commented. It was clear on her face that she wanted to believe but was afraid to.

Kakashi studied her. "You definitely have the look of an Uzumaki. You can get tested if you want to know for sure. Somehow, I don't think your teammates appreciate you being all chummy with us right now."

Karin, looked back to her teammates. One of them had finally passed out and the other was sitting at an open table, glaring at her.

"Um, if it's true, and I'm not saying it is, but if it is then . . . I need to know . . . but you have to know that Kusa will not like it."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes," said Kakashi.

"For now, you should take a seat, rest, this stage is about to end," suggested Naruto. "This is my team, the broody one is Sasuke, and this is Sakura."

"Nice to meet you," said Sakura first.

Sasuke didn't even turn to look.

"Nice to meet you too," replied Karin. "Um, is he crazy? Does he do this kind of thing often?"

"He's definitely crazy but most shinobi are. As for this, I'm certain he's telling the truth. I've known Naruto long enough to know he wouldn't lie about something like this."

"I'm so not lying," protested Naruto.

"Maybe not, but it doesn't hurt to get confirmation," said Karin, studying Naruto a bit more closely now. "So, you said Uzumaki are known for their red hair, why isn't yours red?"

"Don't know, guess my dad was blond," said Naruto with a shrug. "But I know for certain my mom was an Uzumaki."

"You don't know?" asked Karin.

"Orphan," he replied shortly.

"Me too," she replied, looking down sadly.

"Everyone, the Hokage will be addressing you all shortly. Please follow me now." Anko announced loudly to the room, cutting off any conversation.

"Karin, you stupid bitch, help me carry Takashi," called Karin's only conscious teammate.

Karin glared at him.

"Go help him, we'll have more time to talk later," Naruto suggested.

Karin frowned but nodded her acceptance anyway.

The eight teams moved slowly through the tower to the large assembly room, the same room that Naruto and the other rookies used for training the past week.

Once inside, they were all lined up facing the throne. It was only a few minute wait before the old man strolled into the room and took his seat.

"Welcome everyone and congratulations for making it this far, it's very impressive that you have done so given the scope and size of this competition. This trial is set to test you both physically and mentally, to push you to the brink and beyond if you are capable of doing so. In this . . . substitute for war you represent the strength of your villages and that strength will be put on display for daimo's and wealthy clients alike in a month's time. But before you can show your stuff there, we need to further narrow the field a little more." The old man's speech was interesting and it definitely captured the attention of his audience.

"If I may, Hokage-sama," interrupted one of the jounin standing behind the throne. He man paused to cough a few times, he did not look well at all.

"Of course, by all means," said the old man, motioning the man to go ahead.

"My name is Gekko Hayate, I am the proctor for the third phase of the Chuunin Selection Exam. However, as Hokage-sama has said, there are too many competitors, as such we will have a preliminary now. Anyone unable to continue is free to withdraw now."

"I'm afraid the forest just took too much out of me," said Kabuto, raising his hand first.

Naruto looked at him could see that he was actually completely unharmed and completely full on chakra. So why was the man leaving, and worse, why was he unable to see anything when he used observe on the man. As the hidden quest still sitting in his quest log states, Kabuto is full of mystery.

The one thing, he didn't miss was the look from Ibiki, Anko, and even the Hokage as Kabuto quit.

"Yakushi Kabuto has withdrawn," Hayate added.

"Obugo Takashi is unable to continue and is disqualified," announced Hayate, seeing the unconscious boy slowly bleeding out.

The other Kusa shinobi frowned and slowly raised his one good arm. "I'm also unable to continue."

"Sugara Fukimo has withdrawn," Hayate announced.

Karin looked indecisive for a moment before she steeled herself to stay with it.

No one else there even flinched, not one person was willing to quit the exam now.

"If no one else wishes to withdraw, please head up to the balcony. The electronic board will display two names, those two are to fight until only one of you still stands."

"Is killing permitted?" asked Neji, glaring at Hinata.

"It is permitted but highly frowned upon," answered Hayate, not reacting to the question at all, just coughing again.

There were no other questions so everyone else moved slowly up to either balcony in teams, Karin even went with her team despite clearly not liking them very much.

It wasn't until Naruto was standing on balcony that his next quest popped up.

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 2.5**

**Successfully complete the preliminary stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Defeat your opponent.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

Naruto accepted the quest and as soon as he did, the electric board came to life, providing two names.

**Higurashi Tenten vs. Inuzuka Kiba**

"Alright, we're up first Akamaru," cheered Kiba, leaping off the balcony and landing in a crouch.

Naruto took a moment to [Observe] Tenten, it had been a while since they last fought.

**Name: **Higurashi Tenten

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV27 **Next Level: **21.17%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **1880/1880

**CP: **450/450

**STR: **40

**VIT: **80

**DEX: **203

**INT: **45

**WIS: **40

**LUK: **10

**DEF: **350

**SPD: **60

**Status: Intermediate Weapon's Mistress **(+4 DEX &amp; +40 HP per Level, +40% Damage to all Bukijutsu Skills),** Smithy **(15% effectiveness to [Blacksmithing] Skill, +25% experience gain to [Blacksmithing] Skill), **Real Kunoichi** (+5 to all stats).

**Higurashi Tenten is a Real Kunoichi and takes it very seriously. As seriously as she takes being a kunoichi, she takes being a blacksmith just as much so. She was trained from young age in both skills by her father after her mother failed to return from a mission. She has vowed to be just as strong and capable as any other shinobi**

Naruto would have whistled in appreciation but a strange feeling that he shouldn't whistle just then flowed through him, undoubtedly preventing some manner of pain and suffering from righteous feminine wrath.

"Does Kiba even have a chance?" asked Sakura.

"I doubt it," Naruto answered, his eyes trained on the fight about to begin. "Kiba is faster than her but she's far more skilled, more agile, and has a lot more stamina than he does."

Sakura nodded, focusing her attention on the fight about to transpire.

Kiba stood across from Tenten waiting for the jounin to start the fight, a confident smirk on his face and a certain feral swagger to his movement.

Tenten stared at Kiba, studying him, calculating eyes seemed to see through him.

"Hajime," said Hayate softly, his voice straining to be heard by the room.

Kiba immediately sprang forward toward Tenten, a punch swinging wildly toward her head.

Tenten ducked just enough before shooting forward under the fist and past Kiba's body, her knee coming up late and ramming it into his chest.

Kiba let out an audible 'woof' of sound as the air quickly vacated his lungs. Even as much pain as he was in, he managed to dive away from her and the rain of quick flying kunai and shuriken aimed right for him.

Naruto would admit to some surprise, seeing Akamaru had managed to stay mounted on his master's head the entire time. He was however, less impressed by Kiba's opening move, it was brash and poorly thought out if it was thought of at all.

Akamaru growled and yipped while Kiba quickly regained his breath.

Tenten was apparently feeling generous. "Done underestimating me?"

"Heh, I guess so," answered Kiba, taking Akamaru off of his head and setting him on the ground.

Naruto barely caught it but Kiba slipped something into Akamaru's mouth, it was followed by a low crunching sound. Whatever he'd just eaten had caused Akamaru's fur suddenly turned bright red, almost orange.

Kiba then formed several quick hand seals then said aloud, "Shikyaku no Jutsu."

Naruto was perplexed by what Kiba had done, as chakra was suddenly visibly coming off his body in low wafts like flames. He found himself really wishing he could [Observe} the technique to find out what it is, he didn't expect it to actually work.

**[Shikyaku no Jutsu (Active) Lv 74 Exp: 13.43% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

**This technique grants animal-like accelerated fighting instincts and reflexes to the user. By enveloping their entire body in chakra and moving on all fours, they can obtain high speed movement and reflexes like that of a wild animal.**

**Passively increases DEX 19%**

**Passively increases SPD 19%**

**Additional 100% to SPD when Active.**

**Additional 100% to DEX when Active.**

"That shit is stupid overpowered," groused Naruto.

"What? What's it do?" asked Sakura, not looking away from the fight.

"Doubles his speed and dexterity," he answered.

"What?" Sakura nearly shrieked. "That's ridiculous."

"Yeah, but he can't keep it up for very long, maybe three minutes."

"How would you know that?" asked Sasuke, his Sharingan active and staring closely at Kiba.

"Just a guess," Naruto answered lamely. He really didn't have a better explanation than that.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, not believing him but not caring much either way, he would see for himself soon enough.

"Akamaru, now," shouted Kiba, his technique taking for effect. "Jujin Bunshin no Jutsu," Kiba and Akamaru howled together, causing the small pup to transform a moment later in a replica of Kiba.

"Ho, you might be a challenge after all," Tenten said, with a small grin. She then unsealed a quarterstaff twirling it around a few times, showing off for the judges. "Shall we begin?"

Kiba grinned from his crouched position, in a blur both he and Akamaru blurred in opposite directions. They moved fast, suddenly attacking Tenten from both sides at once.

Tenten ducked the high attack and batted the low attack away with her staff, earning a pained yelp from the one hit by her staff. She wasn't prepared for the sweeping claws the high Kiba raked down at her scoring a strike on her forearm, leaving a quartet of bloody lines a few inches long.

Kiba smirked at the hit only to see a flash of light as the staff struck the side of his head rather unforgivingly less than a second later. The boy rolled several times across the tiled floor, feeling dazed and confused. The girl struck true.

Akamaru though attacked with more ferocity and speed, keeping Tenten on her heals, moving back quickly away from the angry hound.

Tenten finally put some distance between them, choosing to put her staff away as fighting in close was not favorable to her. Instead, she began to rapidly throw kunai after kunai at the clone forcing his retreat. She'd even nicked Akamaru a few times.

Kiba groaned as he stood up again, he had to shake his head a few times, that hit was brutal. He looked to see Akamaru in retreat from the weapon mistress's assault. His hand reached inside his pouch for a moment before pulling out two black orbs. "Akamaru, get ready boy!"

There was a yip from the clone as it continued his retreat.

Kiba threw to two orbs, one toward Tenten and the other toward the space between Akamaru and Tenten.

Naruto watched the spectacle with rapt attention. Kiba may not have been stronger than Tenten but his strategy was leaps and bound better. Tenten was amazing with her weapons but they were all but useless against Kiba and Akamaru's speed and ferocity. And now, her vision was completely obscured by the oversized smoke bombs Kiba threw. It only got worse when Akamaru and Kiba both turned into flying tornados of destruction.

When the smoke finally cleared Tenten was down on one knee, gasping for breath and looking cut up from the drilling technique Kiba used on her. Naruto frowned when he saw her HP was flashing red. He really didn't expect Kiba to get even close to defeating her.

"She's done," said Kiba, sweat trickling down his face.

That's when Naruto saw Kiba was almost completely out of chakra, anymore and he'd suffer chakra exhaustion.

Tenten struggled to get back on her feet. She stood tall for a moment before fainting backwards, the bleed damage she was suffering finally knocking her unconscious. She was caught before she hit the tile by the green thing known as her sensei.

"Winner, Inuzuka Kiba," announced Hayate.

"Three minutes twenty-five seconds," said Sasuke.

"That's in line with Naruto's prediction. It wasn't far off," added Sakura.

"It was a very surprising outcome," Kakashi chimed in, his book unusually absent.

"I really didn't think Kiba stood chance," said Naruto. "He just had the better strategy, and I can hardly believe I'm saying that about Kiba of all people."

"You're one to talk, dobe," Sasuke slipped in, smirking slightly.

Naruto felt a bit of surprise at Sasuke's quip matched by a bit of embarrassment. He would have retorted but the next match was called.

**Hyuuga Neji vs Sabaku Temari**

"So, who wins this one?" asked Sasuke, taunting Naruto.

A taunt Naruto bit on. "Neji."

"5000 Ryo says Temari wins. Why don't put your money where your mouth is?"

"You're on," Naruto answered, grinning greedily.

"You taking bets, Naruto?" asked Kiba, tiredly walking toward his group.

"Um . . ."

"I'll put 5000 Ryo on Neji," said Kiba, not giving Naruto a chance to reply.

"5000 on Temari," jumped in Ino, glaring at Kiba.

"Troublesome, I'll put 5000 on Neji."

"If Shika thinks Neji is going to win then I'll 5000 on Neji too," Chouji said, holding out a wad of cash.

"What is this unyouthful activity?" demanded Gai, looking at the betting pool quickly building.

"5000 on Neji," said Kakashi, handing Naruto a stack of ryo.

"Damn you, Kakashi, you and your hip attitude."

"Ano, 5000 on Neji-nisan," stuttered Hinata.

"Temari," said Shino, holding out his own stack of money.

Naruto didn't know what was happening but suddenly money was being pushed at him from all the genin.

"5000 on my sister," Kankuro even joined in.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Gambling comes in many forms, by taking bets on sports and other events 'Bookmaking' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Bookmaking (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% Ryo: ?]**

Taking bets on life and death and making money from it. This underworld skill can earn you a lot of ryo but may also cost you everything. You are now able to set odds, calculate payouts, and take commission.

Passively increase LUK by 1%

"What kind of odds you giving on this?" asked Asuma, lighting a cigarette.

"No odds on this one," said Naruto. "Payout dispersed evenly to the winning bet." He had no idea where he came up with that answer but he understood it perfectly because of the skill he uncovered . . . created . . . whatever. If ten people correctly bet on Neji to win and he took in 75000 ryo, then everyone that won would get 7500 ryo back.

"Neji then," said Asuma, handing over some cash.

"Anyone else want to place a bet? Last call, as soon as the match begins the betting is closed," called Naruto, actually getting a lot of response from the Genin and the jounin sensei. He looked down at the Hokage to see the old man laughing and shaking his head ruefully.

When the last bet came in Naruto had taken in 100000 Ryo, fifteen percent of which was his off the top for [Bookmaking] in the first place.

"Hajime," was finally called from below by Hayate, drawing all of the room to watching the fight about to unfold.

Naruto though was focused first on the two fighters, studying one another. He was studying them too.

Neji's long hair was bound and carefully maintained, not a single stray hair out of place. He seemed to have permanent scowl etched on his face. And his clothes were very plain, a cream jacket and black shorts with bandages around his hands, fingers, and legs.

Temari was and interesting one, her blond hair was done up in four separate pony tails keeping the hair contained and looking stylish at the same time. She was fairly tan but that was kind of expected from living in the desert. She wore a short white dress that showed off a fair amount of leg that Naruto knew she could use as a distraction. She also carried a large battle-fan, something his [Observe] chimed on.

**Suna Battle-Fan – **A large fan used by Suna's infamous Wind Rider Corps. Capable of enhancing futon jutsu, being used as a glider, or as a blunt instrument of pain, its diversity makes both valuable and deadly. 75-100 Damage. +50% damage to futon jutsu.

Then he used his [Observe] skill on Temari.

**Name: **Sabaku Temari

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV28** Next Level: **16.14%

**Affiliation: **Suna

**HP: **820/820

**CP: **1840/1840

**STR: **37

**VIT: **82

**DEX: **171

**INT: ** 184

**WIS: **183

**LUK: **9

**DEF: ** 100

**SPD: ** 51

**Status: Wind Rider **(+5 DEX &amp; +5 INT per level, -15% cost to futon jutsu, +10% damage to futon jutsu),** Strategist **(+5 WIS per Level, +15% experience gain to all skills), **Diplomatic **(+5% to all reputation gains, +5% effectiveness to [Barter] skill)

**Sabaku Temari is one of three children of the Kazekage. She takes her role as kunoichi seriously and hates being looked down upon just for being female. She is very skill for her age but then she has to be if she wants to survive being teamed with her very unstable brother.**

Temari was skilled, that was for certain but Neji was a juggernaut. He was definitely the strongest Konoha Genin and the [Observe] proved it.

**Name: **Hyuuga Neji

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV32** Next Level: **8.41%

**HP: ** 1050/1050

**CP: **2000/2000

**STR: **45

**VIT: **105

**DEX: **365

**INT: **200

**WIS: ** 190

**LUK: **1

**DEF: **155

**SPD: **81

**Status: Prodigy **(+5 INT &amp; +5 WIS per level),** Advanced Byakugan** (+10 DEX per level, +0.50 SPD per level),** Ruthless **(-20% to all reputation gains)

**Hyuuga Neji is a member of the elitist Hyuuga clan known for their doujutsu and unique taijutsu style. He is very cold and uncaring, his fate is set and no one can convince him otherwise and yet he seems to constantly fight that fate every day.**

However, as Naruto learned in the last fight, stats don't mean anything. Still, Naruto felt Neji would win this, he was overwhelmingly stronger statistically than Temari.

The pair only studied each other a moment longer before they attacked.

Neji sprung forward, closing the distance between himself and Temari in an instant. One palm already shooting forward only to clang loudly against the steel frame of the girl's battle-fan.

Temari jumped back after the initial strike from the Hyuuga, her fan flinging forth florets of razor sharp winds the boy easily avoided, closing in on her once more.

His face remained flat as he assaulted the fan wielding girl without pause or hesitation, not allowing her to gain any distance from him again. Unfortunately for him, she was quite good with that fan, regularly deflecting or outright blocking his attacks. Still, unless she could find a way to fight back he would eventually break her defense and when he did it would be over for the Suna kunoichi.

She was sweating, her arms were clearly growing tired after having to constantly defend against the relentless attack. She could read the writing on the wall, if she didn't create some separation soon it was going to be game over. So she did something impulsive, she ignore one of his strikes, rather sacrificed taking a hit to her shoulder in exchange for landing a clean hit on Neji.

Neji smirked, feeling victorious when his attack went through unblocked. But the same smirk on Temari's face made him hesitate just long enough to see her pull a smaller fan that was instantly charged with chakra. He instantly bent backwards at a ninety degree angle just in time to avoid the small blade of wind that would have slit his throat had he remained.

The girl frowned when the boy avoided the attack but was not entirely displeased, it did give her time and space to some separation between the two. Once Temari had about ten meters she began unleashing several large gusts of wind directed at the boy not only pushing him back but also stirring up any dirt on the ground that might obscure his vision or at the very least irritate his eyes and in turn irritate him, possibly make him sloppier.

Neji was indeed getting irritated but not enough to make any great mistakes. He could wait out her weak wind attacks, she would tire soon enough.

Temari kept pushing her gusts of wind, slowly increasing the strength behind them, so long as Neji just stood there biding his time he would never know what was about to hit him. "Tsumuji Otoshi no Jutsu," she finally called out. The wind she had generated suddenly picked up speed until it encircle Neji completely. She then lifter her fan high also lifting the ball of wind holding Neji into the air before she swung her fan down hard slamming the ball into the arena floor.

However, just before the ball hit the arena floor, there was a shout from inside. "Kaiten!" An instant later the orb of wind exploded outwards. Remaining in the center was a spinning wall of chakra. As the chakra dissipated, it revealed Neji standing at the center of it completely unharmed. He also did not hesitate. He attacked the tired girl knocking her out in just three hits before she could close her fan to defend herself.

As soon as she hit the ground, Neji stood straight and walked away without looking back.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji," announced Hayate. The man looked so unhealthy it was difficult to tell if he was upset with Neji's behavior but it didn't really matter at that point as the fight was done.

As soon as the fight ended, Naruto was quick to pay out to the various winners 9444 ryo each. Strangely enough, they all stuck around to place bets on the next round of fighting, winners wanted more and the losers wanted to get their money back. Naruto was tempted to cackle with glee when he thought about all the money he might make for his troubles.

**Akado Yaroi vs Akimichi Chouji**

"Place your bets Ladies and Gentlemen, the gate is open until the start of the fight," Naruto called out and was quickly hounded with bets, most of them overwhelmingly in Chouji's favor. It didn't take long for Naruto to collect the cash since pretty much everyone was there already waiting to place their bets save a few. Gaara wasn't, he simply stood off to the side, staring intently at the arena floor. Lee and Gai were engaged in conversation with the words 'Unyouthful' and 'Youthful' being thrown around a lot. Neji sneered at Naruto but didn't react any more than that, choosing to cross his arms and focus on the arena floor.

Still, at this rate, Naruto would be significantly richer by the end of the day.

Yaroi looked a lot like his remaining teammate but shorter and a bit thicker. His blue uniform matched as did the bandana cover his head and cloth hanging over his face, even the dark round glasses were the same. If not for different names, they could have passed for brothers.

Chouji looked comfortable, munching on the last of his chips before the match started. He was big, it was amazing to some that he was able to find such a large brown leather jacket to cover him. It was a bit rude to think it but true nonetheless. Thankfully, he had gotten rid of the ridiculous bandana he used to wear that made it look like he was wearing tighty-whitey's on his head, in its place with the alligator shaped skull cap with the Konoha symbol stamped in the middle of it.

"Hajime," called out through the room, both closing the betting and starting the match.

It wasn't much of a match. Chouji's arm enlarged to extreme proportions, impacting with Yaroi and continued moving forward until he slammed the body into the wall, cracking the stonework and relieving his opponent of consciousness.

"Winner, Akimichi Chouji!"

"Damn!" said Naruto appreciatively. "One shot for the win."

There were also several curses from those who lost their bets as well as cheers from those who won even though the payout was severely reduced.

"That wasn't even a match," complained Kiba.

"It was a smart decision by Chouji," said Asuma. "He may not have showed off much of his skill but he showed good forethought and decision making. Strategy seems to make a bigger impact on the decision of whether or not you make chuunin than brute strength. They are looking to find leaders, not soldiers."

That made sense to Naruto. It also spoke well for all of those who'd made it to the next phase, most of the victories were won on having a better strategy than their opponent with the exception of Neji, which was actually surprising.

**Kinuta Dosu vs. Rock Lee**

Naruto was actually excited for this fight, it was two of the better fighters here, both of the strongly taijutsu oriented. He'd seen Dosu's stats days ago but he had yet to really see Lee's.

**Name: **Rock Lee

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV30** Next Level: **80.44%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **3700/3700

**CP: **20/20

**STR: **360

**VIT: **370

**DEX: **360

**INT: **20

**WIS: ** 30

**LUK: **10

**DEF: **150

**SPD: **310

**Status: Genius of Hard Work** (+5 STR &amp; +5 VIT &amp; +5 DEX per level, +100% increase to bonus stat gain**), Chakra Deformity **(-90% to CP),** Tough** (+50 STR, +50 VIT, +50 DEX)

**Rock Lee was born with a deformed chakra coil system. In spite of this Lee has work himself near to death to become a ninja, to prove that despite his handicap he can still become an exceptional shinobi. His hard work has paid off better than even he could have imagined.**

Naruto was stunned by Lee's stats. They made no sense, even with all of his bonus status abilities, there was no way he could have possible gained that much strength, vitality, and dexterity. No matter how hard he trained or worked it should have been possible.

He then looked to Gai, maybe that would explain it.

**Name: **Maito Gai

**Title: **Jounin

**Level: **LV?** Next Level: **?

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **?/?

**CP: **?/?

**STR: **?

**VIT: **?

**DEX: **?

**INT: **?

**WIS: **?

**LUK: **?

**Status: Master of Hard Work **(+20 STR &amp; +20 VIT &amp; +20 DEX per level, +500% increase to bonus stat gain), **Monster **(+200 STR, +200 VIT, +200 DEX), **Teacher of Hard Work **(+25% experience to teaching skills, +50% to training bonus stats)

**Maito Gai is known as Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, he is a renowned taijutsu master known and feared by every country. A true master of Goken, his skill is unmatched. Only his dedication to his students and a desire to teach the next generation has stopped him from moving higher in the village hierarchy . . . that and he's just weird.**

Okay, so that didn't tell him anything.

Naruto was distracted from further thought on the subject by people demanding to place their bets, this time the split was right down the middle. The only oddity was Gai placing a bet, trying and failing to be subtle about it.

"Hajime!"

Naruto turned his attention to watching the fight, it should be a good one.

Lee bounced on his toes a few times and jabbed a fist into the air a couple times, showing a fair amount of speed but not even close to what his speed stat said he was capable of. His hair bobbed with his move and the unpleasant eyesore of a green leotard showed off way too much for anyone to be comfortable with.

Meanwhile, Dosu just kind of hunched over and swayed side to side, the spiky cloak on his back hardly moved or shifted when Naruto's [Observe] picked up on it.

**Quilled Shell – **A strong defensive back piece capable of taking severe punishment and making opponents pay for striking it. +200 DEF, causes 50-75 Bleed damage per 5 seconds when it successfully blocks a physical attack.

That thing was nasty, Lee would definitely need to be careful of it or he could be in real trouble. Then Naruto caught sight of a glimpse of metal inside one of Dosu's extra-long sleeves, his [Observe] chiming off again.

**Melody Arm – **It is used to amplify or absorb sound waves caused the arm movements of the user that can then be manipulated, and directed with chakra causing more damage. Chance on hit to cause blurred vision, dizziness, or paralysis. Ignores Armor, 100-150 internal damage.

Dosu may not be as strong as Lee but he definitely had better gear. The boy was an odd looking character, most of his face was obscured by a combination of his headband and bandaging wrapped around his face. His clothes had an odd camouflage appearance that Naruto couldn't figure out for the life of him what environment it would be useful in.

The fight began suddenly with the pair charging one another, and engaging in a rapid and fierce taijutsu battle, both seeming to test the other's strength and style. Lee's fighting style was very direct using devastating kicks mixed with a few punches while Dosu's was very fluid, weaving side to side using wide swinging attacks that even when blocked seemed to do a little damage.

Then Dosu slipped under Lee's defense, barely tapping the green wearing genin's stomach.

Lee jumped back several meters and suddenly dropped to a knee and vomited.

"Heh, you survived that hit, I'm impressed. Admittedly, this is a first for me. No one has ever survived having their chakra disturbed by my 'Melody Arm' before," boasted Dosu, foolishly giving Lee time to recover.

It took a moment for Lee to stop vomiting and when he did, he stood tall, wiping his mouth one. "I supposed it's a good thing my chakra coils barely function then."

The Otonin's eye's narrowed both in understanding and in anger. "I see." He then attacked again, this time with more ferocity than before putting Lee completely on the defensive, waiting for an opening.

Finally Dosu over extended himself and Lee capitalized on it, his foot shooting up hard catching Dosu in the chin and lifting the young man off his feet and flying backwards. But it was not without cost as Lee was once again retching, this time a dry heave as his stomach had already been completely emptied after the previous hit.

Lee recovered faster, this time leaping as far back as he could, hoping to recover a little more as Dosu did the same.

"Lee, take them off," shouted Gai, giving the boy a thumbs up.

"But Gai-sensei-" protested Lee.

"It's alright, you have my permission this once," Gai interrupted him.

The boy suddenly grinned a thousand watt smile that matched Gai's. He kneeled and rolled down one of his leg warmers to reveal something wrapped around his ankle which he was quick to unwrap then repeat the process on the other leg. When he stood again, he held the two wraps out to each side of him and let them drop. When they hit the floor it instantly cratered, creating a three meter deep hole.

Naruto was more focus on the objects then Lee at this point. His [Observe] identifying them easily.

**Super Extreme Ankle Weights –** Weighing in at near a metric ton, these weights are only for the most dedicated. Requires Base 150 STR to equip. When equipped wearer is able to gain x4 the normal bonus STR, VIT, DEX, and SPD stats per level, also reduces usable STR, DEX, and SPD by 1/2 while equipped

Naruto was almost drooling at those weights. Sure he couldn't wear those exact weights but there had to be lower level ones that he could wear, Lee had to start somewhere and build up to those. And with Naruto's gamer ability he'd benefit from some kind of weight very, very quickly. But it also made him think about Dosu's gear too, even Temari's battle-fan. It wouldn't hurt to finally go pick up the weapons from Higurashi's he'd had commissioned months ago, not to mention he and Sakura still had not gotten the crab shell checked out. So, assuming Naruto won his match against whoever he ended up fighting he needed to make a trip to Higurashi's with Sakura.

"Winner, Rock Lee!"

Naruto blinked in confusion, he'd only been looking at the details on Lee's weights for a few seconds. How could the fight already be over? He looked and indeed Dosu was knocked out, not just knocked out but broken, badly broken at that. Whatever Lee did it was extreme and fast and very, very effective.

"What happened?" asked Naruto confused.

"I'm not sure," answered Sakura, just as confused. "Lee dropped those weighted wraps or whatever they are then he vanished and so did Dosu and then it was over."

"It was too fast," added Sasuke, his Sharingan active. "Even I could barely see it."

"Fuck," Naruto groaned softly.

It didn't take long for the gamblers to collect their winning, bitch about their losses.

**Nara Shikamaru vs Sabaku Gaara**

"Troublesome," complained Shikamaru.

"Forfeit, now," ordered Naruto, halting Shikamaru before he could go down there.

"Che, troublesome," Shikamaru complained again. "You sure?"

"Very, forfeit."

"Fine, I forfeit," called Shikamaru.

"Winner, Sabaku Gaara!" announced Hayate.

Naruto couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief that none of his friend had to face Gaara.

**Sabaku Kankuro vs Yamanaka Ino**

Again, Naruto was flooded with bets, mostly favoring Kankuro and with good reason.

**Name: **Sabaku Kankuro

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV26** Next Level: ** 89.41%

**Affiliation: **Suna

**HP:** 770/770

**CP: **360/360

**STR: **41

**VIT: ** 77

**DEX: **174

**INT: **36

**WIS: ** 75

**LUK: **6

**DEF: **300

**SPD: **51

**Status: Sneaky Bastard **(+50% effectiveness to [Stealth] skill, +50% effectiveness to [Trap] skill), **Carver **(15% effectiveness to [Wood Carving] Skill, +25% experience gain to [Wood Carving] Skill),** Steady Hand **(+5 DEX &amp; +2 WIS per level)

**Sabaku Kankuro is one of three children of the Kazekage. Chosen to uphold the long tradition of Sunagakure Kugutsu, he has taken to the art with passion and skill not seen since Akasuna Sasori.**

Assuming Kankuro wasn't an idiot, Ino would go down fast. Of course, Kankuro might be an idiot, he looked rather ridiculous. The young man was wearing a black cat suit and his face was covered in make-up. He looked more like a clown than a shinobi.

Ino looked like a kunoichi thanks to Sakura's intervention. The girls still liked clothes that hugged her budding figure but now they were far more functional. You could see light armor plating now sewn in under the clothes. She still preferred to have color but the dark purple that could be confused for black in the dark was an improvement. Now if only she'd do something about her hair.

"Hajime!" started the fight.

Ino started things out first. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Her body dropped her spirit perfectly on target to capture Kankuro if only it was Kankuro. The puppet fell apart on contact with Ino's technique.

Kankuro meanwhile let his hiding place go and frowned at the state of his puppet. He was clearly confused, the puppet was twitching but it wasn't through any action of his.

He looked at the unconscious girl and then proctor who wasn't moving. Then he had to suddenly dodge as one of his puppets traps triggered almost skewering him. He now saw that one of Karasu's eyes was directed at him, following him even, it was really creepy. Kankuro looked again between the puppet and the girl's body when he suddenly figured out was happened.

"Holy shit, you put yourself into my puppet!" he exclaimed and had to dodge another of his puppets traps. "Yeah, it's harder than it looks to control you stupid bitch." He had to start dodging again as Ino seemed to be gaining more control. Finally he decided to target the body, running to it and picking it up, holding a kunai to her throat. "Surrender or you die."

The puppet shook a few times before going limp.

The body Kankuro was holding hostage seemingly sprung to life, being careful not to move given the kunai pointing at her carotid artery.

"I surrender," she said, not hesitating even a second.

"Winner, Sabaku Kankuro!"

Kankuro released her but not before he gave her a little squeeze. He never saw the punch coming that knocked him out.

"Get fresh with me will you?" howled Ino, kicking the downed boy repeatedly. She finally had to be pulled off by Asuma.

"Idiot," groused Baki, retrieving Kankuro and his puppet, carrying both out to join Temari in the infirmary.

"Don't you think that was a bit much, Ino?" asked Chouji, a slight quaver in his voice.

Ino didn't respond but definitely gave him and every male present the stink eye.

**Karin vs Haruno Sakura**

"Ooh, now this should be a good fight," chirped Naruto excitedly.

**Name: **Haruno Sakura

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV26** Next Level: **7.14%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **970/970

**CP: **720/720

**STR: **31

**VIT: **97

**DEX: **44

**INT: **288

**WIS: ** 412

**LUK: **8

**DEF: **100

**SPD: **42

**Status: Perfect Control **(+15 WIS per level, -50% cost to all jutsu),** Medic** (-25% cost to iryojutsu, +25% healing to iryojutsu), **Book Smart **(+10 INT per level, -75% CP, +25% increase to skill experience).

**Haruno Sakura is the smartest student in class. Though very intelligent she is not very physically gifted. After becoming a Genin and being forced to face certain realities she done some significant growing up starting with putting away the silly and childish crush on Sasuke. The question remains whether or not she can repair the relationships in her life she has damaged as a result of her Fangirlism.**

They were pretty evenly matched, it would come down to techniques and strategy to see who was stronger.

"No bets," called Naruto, this was a match he was unwilling to gamble on. One of the fighters was family and the other his teammate.

"So, are you Naruto-kun's girlfriend?" asked Karin bluntly, as she stood across from Sakura.

"Hell no!"

"No need to me mean about it," whined Naruto from the balcony.

"Is he gay?" asked Karin.

"What the hell?" screamed Naruto.

"I'm pretty sure he's not," said Sakura, embarrassed for her teammate. She would be mortified to be related to such a strange girl.

"Are you gay?"

"What is wrong with you?"

"What? It's a fair question," she answered with a shrug. "So . . . are you?"

"No, I'm not gay."

"Oh, so why aren't you dating Naruto-kun?"

"I like someone else but beyond that Naruto is a friend, that's all."

"So what is it? You like the pretty boy type?"

"Can you start this now?" asked Sakura, looking at the proctor desperately.

"It's okay if you do. I like the pretty boy type myself, those delicate features . . . that soft voice . . . ooh, really gets me you know? Like that Sasuke guy, he's just yummy."

Naruto couldn't help the laugh that sprung from him, a laugh that Kiba was quick to join him in.

"Or maybe that Neji guy, that hair of his and his Byakugan, I bet he can see all kinds of things if you know what I mean?"

That comment even got Hinata giggling a little, her laugh light and tinkling like a little bell.

Sakura was not only bright red with embarrassment. "Yeah, you're definitely related to Naruto," she groused under her breath.

"Hajime," called Hayate finally getting the nod from the Hokage.

Poor Sakura was so embarrassed she never saw Karin close on her and hammer a fist into her stomach followed by and upper cut that knocked her off her feet. Then Sakura kind of wavered out of existence.

"Shit, genjutsu."

Sakura smiled victoriously, having successfully ensnared Karin in her genjutsu as soon as the match began. She was content to work on rapidly tying the girl up in ninja wire. However, as she was working she realized she didn't carry ninja wire, where had it come from?

"Shit, genjutsu."

To the audience, the two girls were simply staring at each other, not moving.

"Um, what's happening?" asked Ino.

"Genjutsu," Sasuke answered, his Sharingan picking up all of it.

"I didn't know forehead had gotten so good at them. I thought she was just an iryonin?"

"She's become . . . competent," he replied reluctantly.

"She's gotten good, it's okay. You can say it." Naruto pushed Sasuke frequently, it was nothing new between them. He didn't want to push too much, Sasuke seemed to be a lot more stable today than he was the first day of the chuunin exams, calmer too.

"Hn."

Still an ass though.

Finally from the floor there were two solid thumps as both girls lost consciousness, the genjutsu war finally over and both having lost.

"Draw," announced Hayate, motioning for the medics to come check the pair over.

It was only a second after he said it that Karin sprung back up to sitting position. "Is it over? Did I win?"

"Draw, you both lost," answered Hayate.

"Damn, she's was good. I thought I had her with the pretty boy orgy genjutsu too."

The genin present all looked at Naruto then Karin and back to Naruto.

"What?"

"That sounds like something stupid you'd do," answered Ino remorselessly.

"I would never-" he started to protest only to pause when he heard a cough from the Hokage.

Sakura was roused a minute later, her face stained pink almost immediately, her eyes wandering over to Sasuke shyly before looking away quickly.

Karin and Sakura both walked up the stair to the balcony together, Sakura refusing to look anyone in the eyes.

"So, how did you recover before me?" asked Sakura.

"Not sure, I've always recovered fast. Good genetics I guess."

"Naruto recovers pretty fast too. Is it a Kekai Genkai?"

"Could be? Don't know. Like I told Naruto-kun, I was taken when I was really young. I didn't even know I might be Uzumaki until he told me and that was just about an hour ago."

"You think the recovery could be an Uzumaki thing?" asked Naruto, joining their conversation.

"Your mother always recovered quickly," Kakashi added helpfully. "I haven't known many Uzumaki but they were well known for their ability to recover quickly, live long lives, and having powerful chakra. But those could all be rumors for all I know."

"What else can you tell me about my mother?" asked Naruto.

"Well, I don't know much but I do remember hearing that she was actually a princess . . . well, not really a princess but she was heir to the Uzumaki clan."

"So that would mean I'm the heir?" asked Naruto.

"I guess, but it's hard to be heir to a clan of one, maybe two if Karin is indeed Uzumaki."

**After acquiring knowledge of your family and the hierarchy of their legacy, an evolution of your status 'Uzumaki' has occurred changing your status to 'Uzumaki Clan Heir' (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill).**

Naruto wanted to scream and shout in joy from seeing that change but he managed to refrain, at least for now.

Naruto was about to ask for more information but before he could, the next fight was announced.

**Uchiha Sasuke vs. Abumi Zaku**

"Hah, I get the pretty boy, this is going to be easy," boasted Zaku, jumping the rail and landing softly on the tiled floor below. The boy's hair was spikey, almost reminiscent of Kakashi's hair but dark brown. His clothes were simple, pants and shirt, using the same camouflage pattern as Dosu.

Sasuke sneered. He was less than please by being called a pretty boy. Sasuke jumped over the rail as well, landing without making a sound then took his place across from Zaku. Sasuke was dressed in his standard dark blue shirt and black shorts, the Uchiha fan printed on the back of the shirt showing off proudly.

Back with Naruto the bets he took heavily favored Sasuke as he expected, Zaku wasn't very impressive and was very overconfident based on his posturing.

"Hajime!"

Sasuke's Sharingan flared to life instantly, he moved fast, appearing in front of Zaku, already drawing his chokuto intending to end the fight quickly.

Zaku's eyes widened when the Uchiha appeared in front of him, it was pure instinct that the boy pushed chakra to his arms. A blast of wind from his left arm pushed him well clear of Sasuke while the right arm blasted Sasuke in the ribs, sending him spinning through the air.

The flying Uchiha grunted painfully as he bounced once on the hard stone tile that lined the floor, however the bounce gave him the chance to reposition and come back to his feet. He locked back on to Zaku, running at him, occasionally strafing left or right to avoid a blast of wind, his hands blurring through seals. Sasuke took a deep breath into his lungs and held it a moment, waiting for Zaku to fire off another blast of wind.

Zaku smirked, seeing the Uchiha finally hold still, he charged up both arms and fired the biggest attack he had. "Zankukyokuha no Jutsu!"

Now it was Sasuke's turn to smirk as he unleashed a giant fireball that magnified when it struck the wind, quickly over powering it and obliterating Zaku. When the fire and smoke cleared all that remained was a charred briquette that barely resemble a person only for it to crumble into ash a moment later.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!"

The room when it was done was mostly silent. Killing was allowed but as stated at the start, it was highly frowned upon. The faint outline of the young man on the wall was disturbing as well. It was not a pleasant death but at least it was fast.

Sasuke was emotionless as he climbed the stairs again to rejoin his team.

Naruto made the payout for the gambling but it was somber group collecting their winnings.

**Aburame Shino vs Tsurugi Misumi**

And a new round of betting began, much more subdued as barely any of the genin joined in on it, having lost their taste for it now that someone had died and they profited from it. Even Naruto felt a little guilty to continue [Bookmaking] like this but the logically part of him knew he couldn't turn away the money or it would be bad for business later. It was also a fair kill, the other genin was clearly trying to kill Sasuke. Naruto just wasn't that bothered by it where everyone else who had so little exposure to killing clearly were bothered.

That brought up another thought. The ones that continued betting were the ones exposed to killing and death, had maybe even killed people themselves. It made them a degree more dangerous than those who hadn't taken life. It was disturbing but beneficial knowledge.

Misumi looked very much like his teammate but taller and a bit thinner. His blue uniform matched as did the bandana cover his head and cloth hanging over his face, even the dark round glasses were the same. If not for different names, they could have passed for brothers.

Shino stood passively waiting, his long grey coat with the high collar was exactly as Naruto remembered from the academy days, and he still sported a massive fro on his head too that still looked out of place.

"Hajime!"

Misumi attacked first, throwing a few kunai at Shino, who deflected the thrown weapons with a kunai of his own. It was a pretty boring fight, both fighters seemed to just test each other, having small exchanges of weapons and taijutsu.

Misumi finally got in close, his body seemed to suddenly stretch to wrap around Shino, binding the young man.

"Surrender or I'll break your neck," demanded Misumi, breathing heavily and starting to sweat profusely.

Shino didn't move or speak, just waited patiently.

"Surrender damn it," snapped Misumi again, looking even paler. "I said . . . I said . . . what the . . . gah!" The man suddenly unbound Shino, his body falling to the ground in a heap, complete unconscious.

"Winner, Aburame Shino!"

"What just happened?" asked Naruto, confused by the outcome.

"Shino's kikaichu," answered Kiba. "His bugs can drain chakra from anyone they land on. He can drain a person in just a few minutes, less with more bugs on them."

"That's awesome but also extremely creepy," said Naruto.

"Yeah," echoed Ino, Sakura, and Karen in a single voice, each of them shuddering in disgust as well.

"Due to the odd number of competitors in this round, the final fight will be a three way fight between the remaining competitors," announced Hayate, coughing every few words.

**Hyuuga Hinata vs Tsuchi Kin vs Uzumaki Naruto**

Naruto wasn't prepared for that announcement, he hadn't really counted the number of competitors so he hadn't realized there was an odd number. But to have a three way fight was kind of cool, especially since it was two Konoha shinobi versus one Oto shinobi.

Naruto and Hinata jumped down followed a moment later by Kin.

Kin was dressed similarly to her two teammates, she too wore the same greyish camouflage that made no sense at all. He long black hair hung straight down her back, lacking any real style to it. She was actually very plain looking.

Hinata wore her normal oversized coat and fidgeted nervously, something that seemed to be common place every time Naruto had seen her. Her navy hair was still short save for the two bangs that framed her face and dangling around her neck was her forehead protector.

"So Hinata, what do you say we take out Kin together first, then we can fight? What do you think?"

"Sure, Naruto-kun," stuttered Hinata, she was half relieved by this and half worried about it. On the one hand, she would have help to eliminate Kin, on the other she'd be left alone to fight Naruto.

Kin frowned at the obviously unfair situation. "This is some bullshit."

"Bad luck sure, but it could have easily gone the other way, two Oto shinobi versus one Konoha," replied Naruto. "It's just the luck of the draw. Don't worry though, we won't kill you . . . probably won't kill you . . . your death is unlikely but possible." Naruto loved his pranks as rarely as he pulled them these days and messing with an opponent's head could still be considered a prank, couldn't it?

"Hajime," said Hayate, jumping clear immediately, not wanting to get caught in any cross fire.

Naruto opened up with a barrage of mud balls shot rapidly at Kin, forcing her to retreat, only to be driven right to the Hyuuga.

Hinata had perfectly read Naruto's intention, moving immediately into position so that when Kin was driven to her it took five quick taps in rapid succession to take the girl out of the fight. "Ano, can we remove Kin-san?"

Hayate appeared next to the unconscious girl, picking her up and vanished again.

"Right then, let's have a good fight, Hinata."

"Hai," stuttered Hinata nervously. Her body automatically taking up the first stance of the Hyuuga Jyuuken.

Naruto spat a mud ball at her watching her easily dodge it without moving an inch. He fired off a few more trying to see how she'd react. She easily dodged two and deflected the rest with her open palm, suffering no damage at all. Still not moving or attacking him.

So he attacked again, firing off more mud balls at her, forcing her to move significantly more even if none of them hit. While she was busy dodging he formed a handful of clones to attack her at close range.

Hinata easily dodged or diverted the hail of mud ball shot at her. She was so focused she didn't see Naruto attacking her with taijutsu until he was almost on top of her. Her hand lashed out automatically, striking true to Naruto's chest only for him to burst into a cloud of smoke. She then saw there were more Naruto's attacking her, each of them with a physical presence and chakra system of their own.

Naruto watched as his clones and the mud balls he continued to fire at her were beginning to slowly overwhelm her. His first true hit came when one of the mud balls slammed into her shoulder, causing the young girl to spin around and lose balance for a moment. He didn't expect her to use the moment of the spin to kick out both her legs in a split kick instantly killing three of his clones and giving her space.

"You're pretty good, Hinata," complimented Naruto.

Hinata felt her cheeks heat from the compliment, even though she was breathing heavily and her shoulder was in a lot of pain, she'd never felt better in her life. "Thank you, Naruto-kun," she replied softly, stuttering as usual.

"But you're going to have to attack me if you want to even have a chance at winning. I can spam clones and mud balls all day long," Naruto warned, he wanted a good fight and if he could do something to help her 'Unconfident' status then he would.

Hinata nodded nervously, swallowing thickly. She knew what he said was true but she doubted she could do it.

"You can fight me, Hinata. Just think of it like a spar," offered Naruto. He knew it was a big risk to encourage the girl. It was probably stupid even to encourage the girl to fight him seriously but she was a friend and he liked helping his friends no matter what it might cost him.

Hinata took a few deep calming breaths then nodded. She threw a handful of shuriken at Naruto as a distraction, allowing her to get in closer.

Naruto grinned seeing her attack, it was easy to dodge the shuriken but it did end up with him in close to Hinata having to suddenly dodge a glowing blue hand. Thankfully he was able to substitute with one of his clones. It didn't fool her long as she was on him again.

Hinata was surprised that she was doing as well as she was, even if she hadn't hit him yet. Truthfully, she'd always been surprised by Naruto's perseverance but that perseverance never measured up against his talent or lack thereof. To find that Naruto's taijutsu skill had improved so drastically was shocking to her. He was easily coordinating his attack with clones and himself such that she was starting to confuse who was Naruto and who was a clone, all she could do was keep attacking and hope to get lucky.

On the other side of the fight, Naruto was starting to worry he'd made a mistake encouraging Hinata. Half of his time was spent replenishing the clones as Hinata rapidly destroyed them. He'd scored a few indirect hits but it was barely any damage. He had even tried creating some distance again but Hinata wasn't letting him.

Hinata could feel her energy running dry quickly, but that wasn't so much of a surprise against an opponent like Naruto who had so much energy that he never seemed to tire no matter what he was doing. She lunged forward to strike another clone, dispelling it easily but when she tried to push away from an incoming strike she felt the muscles in her leg protest, slowing her significantly. It was enough for the attack she was trying to dodge to strike true to her ribs.

Naruto felt the ribs give under his fist, he'd hit with enough power it wasn't very surprising that the ribs broke the way they did. He didn't expect it to fold Hinata up like a chair. The girl fell to her knees gripping at her side and gasping for breath. Naruto and his clones backed away, giving her room to recover or decide if she was going to continue to fight. Given the break he kind of hoped she'd withdraw to get treatment, otherwise, if she continued he would probably end up hurting her.

"Can you keep going, Hinata?" asked Naruto, not relaxing.

Hinata coughed a few more times, struggling to climb to her feet, only to fall back down. "I'm afraid . . . I can't . . . continue," she struggled to say, it was clear she couldn't breathe very well.

Naruto looked to the proctor. "Is that enough?"

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Great, can we get a medic for Hinata now? I'm pretty sure I broke some of her ribs."

Hayate waved toward the medic station calling in help for Hinata.

"Good fight, Hinata," said Naruto, kneeling next her while waiting for the medics.

"You're very strong."

"So are you, that Jyuuken is dangerous I tell you," he said, earning a pained giggle from the girl.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"For what?" asked Naruto, clueless as to what she was talking about.

Hinata didn't get a change to answer as the medics arrived and pushed him away.

They ended up carting Hinata out, she needed to have broken ribs pulled back into position and then mended. It was not really something they could do there.

Once Hinata was out of the room, all of the remaining contestants were called down to stand again before the Hokage.

"Well done, to all of you who have won your spot in the final round of the chuunin selection exam. In one month, we'll be holding a tournament here in Konoha where you'll compete for the honor of your village, a chance to be promoted, and to the winner glory and acclaim. If you're wondering why a month's wait, it's to allow the daimyo and various clients time to travel. Impress them and you'll earn your village more business, which means more money and tougher challenges for you." The old man was careful in his explanation but it was clear he wanted the best from them.

"Now, if each of the winners will come up here and select one ball from inside this box, it will determine the fight order," Anko nearly shouted, drawing all the attention to her as she wheeled out a stand with a large box on it, the box having a single hole in the top.

The line formed quickly enough. When Naruto got to draw his number he couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine. When his hand came clear with a white ball in hand that was decorated with a bright red '9' on it, he wasn't sure if it was intentional or just some strange karma but he wasn't going to make an issue of it lest he draw unwanted attention.

**1 Neji vs 2 Shino**

**3 Kankuro vs 4 Lee**

**5 Kiba vs 6 Chouji**

**7 Gaara vs winner (8 Sasuke vs 9 Naruto)**

Naruto couldn't help but feel like he'd just gotten screwed. He knew he could probably beat Sasuke, but it wasn't going to be easy at all, in fact the fight really could go either way. It was the next fight, the fight against Gaara that worried him. It was a fight he wasn't going to be able to avoid either.

"Well, then we'll see you all at noon in the Konoha Stadium exactly one month from today," announced Hayate before he and the rest of the exam proctors along with the Hokage vanished, leaving only a scattering of leaves behind.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded 50000 Exp**

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded 50000 Exp**

**Quest Completion Awarded 100000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 2.5**

**Successfully complete the preliminary stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Defeat your opponent.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Encourage Hinata to fight to her full potential.**

**Flawless Victory!**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

Naruto accepted the quest completion and the big chunk of experience that went with it. Only to be greeted with another window.

**Quest Alert: Find a trainer to prepare you for Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Select a trainer to train you in preparation for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Find someone willing to train you for the finals**

**Pass the test given by prospective trainer.**

**Accept the prospective trainer.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**No assistance in preparing for the finals.**

Naruto didn't like this quest, it sounded like he was going to get screwed. He accepted anyway, suddenly he was seeing a bunch of blue question marks over the various jounin sensei, question marks that were rapidly disappearing.

Naruto looked for Kakashi first, just in time to see the question mark vanish. Sasuke was standing in front of their sensei, he nodded once and turned away. When he faced Naruto, the jerk had the gall to smirk like he'd won some great victory.

"Ah, Naruto, sorry, Sasuke got to me first. I can try to set you up with someone I know that should be able to help you out," offered Kakashi.

Naruto wanted to rage but he couldn't, his game was pointing him to dozens of potential people to train him. He just had to pick one and pass whatever test they gave him. "I'll find someone, don't worry about it."

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask the Hokage. I'm sure he could help you find someone too," suggested Kakashi.

Naruto nodded his acceptance before looking around the room at the remaining jounin.

He noticed right away that both Kurenai and Asuma weren't picked to train any of their students, he couldn't help but be curious about it so he asked.

"Hey, Asuma-sensei, how come you're not training Chouji for the finals?"

"Ah, I offered but Chouji said his father already promised to train him if he made it. Given the clan techniques Chouji can get from his dad it's for the best," he explained, searching his pouch for something.

"What about you Kurenai-sensei?"

"Same thing, my students are both clan children so they will train with them. By the way, thank you for not harming Hinata. I think fighting you really helped her."

Naruto blushed slightly, he still wasn't used to praise from adults. "Ah, it's nothing. I was happy to help a friend, that's all. Anyway, since neither of you are training anyone and the Teme already claimed my sensei, would either of you be willing to help me out?"

"Sure, but you've got to do something for me first," said Asuma.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Find my tobacco pouch."

"Where did you last see it?"

"I know I had it this morning when I left the Hibashi Onsen so I could have lost it anywhere between there an here," he answered.

"Just curious, but . . . um . . . what can you teach me if I do have you teach me?"

"Well, I'm pretty good with trench knives and futon jutsu."

**Asuma-sensei – **By selecting Asuma to train you exclusively for 30 days, you will permanently gain +1 STR &amp; +1 DEX per level achieved while under his direction. You will also earn +50% experience when learning futon jutsu and +50% experience when learning [Chakra To] skill.

Naruto would have whistled appreciatively if it wouldn't have looked strange. But before he accepted Asuma's task he turned to Kurenai.

"What about you Kurenai-sensei? What can I do for you?"

"If you find his pouch, destroy it and I'll teach you," she offered, laughing lightly at the appalled look on Asuma's face.

"What can you teach me?"

"I'm the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha for a reason, I can help you out with it."

**Kurenai-sensei – **By selecting Kurenai to train you exclusively for 30 days, you will permanently gain +2 WIS per level achieved while under her direction. You will also earn +50% experience when learning genjutsu and +100% experience to [Detect Genjutsu] &amp; [Dispel Genjutsu] skills.

Naruto knew Kurenai's help would be great long term but would do almost nothing to prepare him to fight Gaara.

"As much as I appreciate Kurenai-sensei, I think Asuma-sense can help me prepare better for Sasuke and Gaara. So, I'll find your pouch and bring it back to you in no time at all."

"Right, I'll be at Yakiniku Q with my team buying them all lunch to celebrate surviving, you can find me there. Don't take too long though or I might just search for it myself."

Naruto saluted the man then did a quick about face and sprinted out of the auditorium and eventually the tower to the waiting ferry to take him and the other genin out of the forest.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV28** Next Level: **41.33%

**Affiliation:** Konoha

**HP: **5746/5746

**CP: **4509/4509

**STR: **63 (31.30) = 94.30

**VIT: **58 (426.60) = 574.60

**DEX: **63 (49.94) = 112.94

**INT: **63 (297.88) = 450.88

**WIS: **58 (43.21) = 101.21

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **239 (59.75) = 298.75

**SPD: **43 (84.06) = 127.06

**Status: Uzumaki Clan **Heir (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. And finally he has gotten some answers to his past but still mystery remains. Who is his father? How did the Kyuubi escape? **

**Point: **20

**Ryo: **704650

**Quest Log:**

**Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 1**

**Successfully complete the first stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Pass the exam.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Pass without answering a single question.**

**Successfully cheat without losing any points.**

**Inspire your fellow genin.**

**Completion Award: 50000 Exp**

**25000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 2**

**Successfully complete the second stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Acquire a Heaven scroll and Earth scroll.**

**Reach the central tower inside of five days.**

**Survive Orochimaru's onslaught.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Reach the central tower in less than 12 hours.**

**Reach the central tower in less than 24 hours.**

**Reach the central tower in less than 48 hours.**

**Reach the central tower in less than 72 hours.**

**Reach the central tower in less than 96 hours.**

**Prevent Orochimaru from placing a curse seal on Sasuke**

**Acquire an extra Heaven scroll.**

**Acquire an extra Earth scroll.**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

Naruto's kept his eyes peeled as he wandered through town to search for Asuma's tobacco pouch he was surprised by just how many potential trainers there were. Some were chuunin, some were jounin. There were even a few shop owners willing to train him. It was ridiculous.

Still, he couldn't help but let his curiosity get the better of him as he asked some what they could teach him.

**Genma-sensei - **By selecting Genma to train you exclusively for 30 days, you will permanently gain +2 DEX per level achieved while under his direction. You will also earn +50% experience when training [Chakra Speed] and +50% experience when training [Ninjato] skill.

**Teuchi-sensei - **By selecting Teuchi to train you exclusively for 30 days, you will permanently gain +1 WIS per level achieved while under his direction. You will also earn +50% experience when training [Cooking] skill and chance to learn recipe [Ichiraku Ramen].

**Iruka-sensei – **By selecting Iruka to train you exclusively for 30 days, you will permanently gain +1 STR &amp; +1 VIT &amp; +1 DEX &amp; +1 WIS &amp; +1 INT per level achieved while under his direction.

Some of them were very tempting, especially the chance to learn to make [Ichiraku Ramen] himself. Still, he needed skills that fit him and Asuma had those even if he didn't have a futon affinity yet. But if Shikamaru and Chouji were right then he probably had a very strong futon affinity even if it wasn't discovered yet. Plus, [Chakra-To] sounded bad ass to him, especially if he could combine them with his [Chakra Nagashi] skill.

So it was Naruto continued to wander down the path toward Hibashi Onsen, making sure to check all around him for any sign of the tobacco pouch. He finally found the stupid thing just outside the entrance to the hot springs, just sitting in a large potted plant in plain sight.

Naruto happily collected the pouch and would have been happy to report to Asuma when he heard a giggle, it was a giggle he knew only too well from his time with Kakashi. It was the giggle of a pervert.

Naruto wandered around the side of the building toward the source of the noise. He didn't expect to see a question mark hovering above the perverts head. He expected even less that the man would have a question mark for his level.

**Jiraiya Lv ?**

The man was tall and well built. He had long spikey white hair that hung past his belt. The man wore a dark red haori over a grey short kimono and a chain mesh shirt under that. Surprisingly the man wore red geta on his feet, it was very rare to see anyone wearing traditional wooden sandals these days. On his forehead he wore a horned forehead protector with the symbol for oil on it. Naruto had never heard of a village hidden in the oil before but there were probably a lot of villages he'd never heard of before. There was a small trickle of blood running from his nose, while he also had a red line tattooed from his eye to his chin on both sides of his face.

Naruto knew he'd have to be careful in his approach as this could go either way for him and he really didn't want to get in trouble but his curiosity was pushing him around quite successfully today making the decision for him.

"Um, excuse me, but what are you doing?" asked Naruto, trying not to be too loud out of fear that he may face whatever wrath the old man would also face if either of them were discovered by the women bathing on the other side of the fence.

The pervert turned to glance at him briefly then turned back to look through the small hole he was using to peep. "What do you want brat?"

"Ano, you shouldn't be doing this, you know?"

"Yeah so," the man said, not turning away.

"So . . . what happens if they catch you?"

"I run away," he answered.

"And if they catch you anyway?"

"I take a beating," he said with a shrug, as if it wouldn't matter.

"You look a bit old, wouldn't a beating like that kill you?"

That seemed to finally get the man's attention.

"I'll have you know brat, I'm the legendary Gama Sennin, Jiraiya."

"So, you're like, a shinobi?"

"One of the best," he boasted.

"So could you help me with my training?"

"Meh, why should I bother?"

"Because I'm awesome," answered Naruto, grinning proudly.

"Ha, yeah right, brat," laughed Jiraiya.

"I'll prove it to you, give me a task and I'll do it then you have to train me," demanded Naruto.

"Okay, brat, you've got yourself a deal. I want you to get a ripe piece of fruit, with all the right curves, juicy . . . you know what I'm saying?"

Naruto knew exactly what the pervert was asking for but he'd be damned if he didn't trick the old man for being so open about it.

"If I do this, what can you teach me exactly?"

"I'll have you know that I am the foremost expert in fuinjutsu, ninjutsu, and kuchiyose no jutsu, if that isn't enough for you then you can walk away now, brat."

**Jiraiya-sensei – **By selecting Jiraiya to train you exclusively for 30 days, you will permanently gain +2 STR &amp; +1 VIT &amp; +2 DEX &amp; +1 INT &amp; +2 WIS per level achieved while under his direction. You will also earn +100% experience when training [Fuinjutsu], +50% experience when training any ninjutsu skill, +50% experience when training [Kuchiyose no Jutsu], and a strong chance of signing the Gama Kuchiyose Contract.

Naruto had to wipe a little drool from his chin, this was almost too good to be true. Jiraiya's benefits to training were seriously overpowered as fuck. "Okay, I'll get what you're looking for."

"Come find me when you do."

Naruto was still intent on tricking the old man while he was still technically fulfilling the request given to him.

It didn't take Naruto long to find the oddly shaped melon matching the description he was given, it actually took him longer to find Jiraiya again than the melon. He found the pervert flirting shamelessly with a ninja-groupie. He had a choice to make, either he interrupt and embarrass the old man or play it cool and let the pervert try to get his groove on. As if there was really a tough decision to make.

"Yo, Ero-Sennin," he shouted loudly and proudly.

Jiraiya just paled, turning white as a sheet.

"I found that juicy fruit you wanted with all the curves in the right places," he shouted, making a big production of carrying the unusually shaped melon into the bar. Naruto couldn't help grinning when he heard an audible slap and a 'humph' followed by the floozy storming out.

"You damn, brat. Do you have any idea what you've just done?" he demanded.

"What?" asked Naruto, trying to act innocent. "I just did what you told me to."

Jiraiya clearly wasn't buying it, even as he swiped the melon from Naruto and sliced it in a few deft moves. He jerked a finger pointing to the stool next to him.

Naruto grinned and sat down, happily grabbing piece of melon for himself and chowing down.

"So, you want me to train you?" asked Jiraiya, no joke or humor in his voice.

"Yes sir," answered Naruto, showing him the same seriousness.

"Alright, you've got yourself a teacher, for the next 30 day I'm yours."

"Yo, Naruto, here you are, I've been looking for you," said Asuma, entering the bar.

"Ah, Asuma-sensei, sorry to keep you waiting. I ran into this guy and he said he could help me train," explained Naruto lamely. It was kind of awkward.

"No worries, kid, did you find my pouch by chance?"

"Yeah," said Naruto, handing it to him. "I'm sorry for the change of plans, I wish you could both train me."

"What's this, brat? Got someone else wanting to train you?" asked Jiraiya, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Yeah, this is Asuma-sensei," Naruto introduce the man. "And Asuma-sensei, this is Ero-Sennin."

Asuma barked out a laugh. "Oh, this cheeky brat's got your number, Jiraiya-sama."

"Maybe, maybe that's why I like him," retorted Jiraiya. "So tell me, brat, what were you going to teach this brat?"

"Chakra-To and some futon jutsu," answered Asuma.

Jiraiya hummed aloud as he thought. "Okay, so you'll teach him that, I'll teach him the rest."

"Wait, so you're both going to teach me?"

"Make no mistake, brat, you're my student," claimed Jiraiya. "This brat just happens to know some useful things to teach you. Got it?"

"Yes sir, Ero-Sennin, sir," chirped Naruto.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp**

**Quest Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Find a trainer to prepare you for Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Select a trainer to train you in preparation for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Find someone willing to train you for the finals**

**Pass the test given by prospective trainer.**

**Accept the prospective trainer.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Convince one of the prospective trainers to tutor you in addition to your primary trainer.**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**No assistance in preparing for the finals.**

Naruto quickly tapped the completion buttons only to be greeted with his next quest.

**Quest Alert: Preparation t-minus 30:00:00:00.00**

**Train harder than you have ever trained before to prepare for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Kuchiyose no Jutsu]**

**Learn [Chakra-To]**

**Learn [Futon Affinity]**

**Learn 3 futon jutsu.**

**Learn 2 doton jutsu.**

**Earn 10 levels to [Fuinjutsu]**

**Earn 5 Levels**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

'**Prepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

'**Underprepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

"Holy crap!" shouted Naruto, thankfully Jiraiya just grinned think the kid was excite to have him as a teacher. The reason he really shouted was for the quest, it was ton of stuff to do. Five levels was crazy . . . it was shit load of experience to gain in just thirty days.

"Right, we'll start tomorrow morning," said Jiraiya. "In case you didn't figure it out, that means leave." He punctuated his last statement by jerking his thumb toward the door.

"Where will I find you tomorrow?" asked Naruto.

"I'll find you, for now, go with Asuma and get started on what he's got to teach you," ordered Jiraiya.

"Come on, kid, leave the old man to his drinking, we've still got some daylight to burn," Asuma put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and guided him out of the bar.

"So where do we go first?" asked Naruto.

"First, we need to get you a pair of Chakra-To," answered Asuma.

"Sweet, so Higurashi's then?" asked Naruto.

"Good to know you like the higher quality stuff. Let's go."

Naruto followed Asuma to Higurashi's, he wanted to ask questions, especially about how he was going to get that much experience in so little time not that Asuma could answer so for now he chose simply to be quiet and wait.

"Yo, Hiten, you here you lazy ass?" called Asuma as he entered the shop.

"Ass-uma, what do you want?" replied the shop owner, grinning the entire time.

"Need some Chakra-To for my temporary student here," answered Asuma, motioning to Naruto.

"Oh, teaching this one huh? Naruto, be careful around this guy. He's dumb and skilled, a dangerous combination. Then again, maybe you'll be okay with him."

"I think I was just insulted but I'm going to let that go so you sell me some good Chakra-To."

"Good answer," laughed Hiten. "Let me go get you a decent pair from the back."

"I thought you said-"

Naruto was cut off with a look that clearly warned him to shut the hell up and say thank you. "Right, thank you, sir."

"That's what I thought," said Hiten, continuing into the back of the shop.

The man returned a moment later with a black box which he set on the counter. "Here you go kid."

"How much?" asked Naruto, afraid to open the lid and look at them.

"500000 Ryo," answered Hiten.

"500000 Ryo, what the hell man?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, brat, but don't you still have a very valuable coupon you earned from my daughter a while back? 50% off?"

It was like the skies parted and angels' songs filled the shop. Naruto opened his inventory and cheered when he saw he still had the coupon, pulling it from his inventory he held it out to Hiten.

"That's what I thought," said the man, taking the coupon.

"What the hell was that?" asked Asuma, focused on Naruto pulling the coupon out of thin air.

"So, now that'll be 250000, can you afford that?"

Naruto once again pulled out the cash from his inventory and set the nice, neat, clean stack of ryo on the counter.

Asuma meanwhile was poking the air in front of Naruto.

"Um, sensei, what are you doing?" asked Naruto, looking at the older man.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" asked Naruto.

"You pulled that coupon and the money out of thin air. How did you do it?"

"Ah . . . um . . . hmm . . . [Fuinjutsu]?"

Asuma closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know what, forget it. I don't want to know. Why don't you go ahead check out your new Chakra-To?"

Naruto's hands shook a little as he reached out to box and lifted the lid off of it. Inside the box, and wrapped in a silk cloth were two trench knives. Along the knuckle was a jagged blade that continued down into a jagged blade about one and a half times longer than the grip.

"Nasty," complimented Asuma, pulling his own out and setting the next to Naruto's. His were jagged along the knuckles as well but the blade was curve, it was also a few solid inches longer as well as having a larger grip.

Naruto looked back at his blades using [Observe] popping up a description window.

**Jagged Chakra-To – **A chakra-to designed for smaller hands, these trench knives sport a jagged edge better for trapping of weapons. They are extremely durable and sharp, capable of easily channeling massive amounts of chakra without degrading. Stats: 50-75 Damage. DUR 120/120

Naruto picked up the blades quickly slipping one on to each hand, experimentally pushing a little chakra into each. He was surprised by how easily they accepted the chakra, usually when he pushed chakra into his kunai they would resist him, wasting a ton of chakra in the process.

"Not bad kid" said Asuma. "And you already know how to add chakra to them so that makes things a lot easier."

"What do you mean? Makes what easier?"

"Teaching you to put futon chakra into them, kid."

"Again, what do you mean? Why futon chakra?"

"The primary attribute of futon chakra is its ability to cut," Asuma explain, pulling out a normal kunai then slicing it in half effortlessly with his chakra-to. "If you can learn to control and harness futon chakra that becomes possible."

"Can I do that even if I don't have a futon affinity?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's a lot harder but it's possible. Do you know your chakra affinity?"

"Well, I've developed some raiton and doton but I can't buy the paper to find out for sure."

Asuma chortled. "Hiten, one sheet please."

"Sure, 10000 ryo," he said, pulling up a slip from under the counter and setting it on top.

Asuma and Hiten both looked at Naruto expectantly.

Naruto sighed and put the money on the counter, grumbling the whole time. "Now what?"

"Just channel a little chakra into it," said Asuma.

Naruto picked up the card and pushed a little chakra into it causing it to slice into several little pieces of confetti sized bits.

**You've obtained the skill 'Natural Futon Affinity'.**

**[Natural Futon Affinity (Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00%]**

The natural ability to manipulate and control wind style ninjutsu.

Passively increases Futon effects 2%

**You've gained the status 'Kamikaze (-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)'.**

Both adults whistled appreciatively.

"That is a damn strong wind affinity," commented Hiten.

"Really?" asked Naruto, it didn't seem any different from the benefit Sakura got from her [Natural Raiton Affinity] skill. The status thing was different but did it make that big of a difference?

"Yeah, really," said Asuma. "We'll spend a lot of time working on it, I may even teach you my [Hien]. Kami knows, none of my brats will ever bother."

"Is it good?"

"Badass," answered Asuma.

It was clearly enough of an answer for Naruto.

"Anything else for you morons or can I finally kick you out?" asked Hiten.

"Ooh, I need training weights," said Naruto, remember from the exams.

"Going all out, eh?" asked Hiten. "Alright, follow me." He guided Naruto to a small shelving unit but on closer inspection it was super reinforced to withstand huge payloads. "Top shelf has the lightest weights, bottom shelf the heaviest.

Naruto used [Observe] on each of the weight sets trying to find the maximum set with the biggest return on investment.

**Very Heavy Ankle Weights - **Weighing in at near a 200 Kilograms, these weights are only for the dedicated. Requires Base 70 STR to equip. When equipped wearer is able to gain x2 the normal bonus STR, VIT, DEX, and SPD stats per level, also reduces usable STR, DEX, and SPD by 1/2 while equipped.

These were the best return on investment even if he was just a little short on the minimum strength requirement, something easily remedied with this stockpile of unspent points. Points he'd saved for exactly such an occasion. So with a quick seven points into each strength and dexterity, still trying to keep the two stats mostly even, he had the strength he needed to equip the leg weights. And with the two leg weights he could gain another 28 points to his strength, vitality, dexterity and speed just by training his ass off.

They cost Naruto another 70000 ryo but it was money well spent.

"Okay kid, so you've got the weapons, you've got the weights, now how are you planning to train everything I've got to teach plus whatever Jiraiya's got for you?

"Shadow clones, duh."

Asuma was caught speechless by that, but then he should have figured the kid had a ridiculous amount of chakra with the way he threw them around during the preliminary match. "That might actually work."

"I know right," Naruto cheered for himself.

"We'll let's get to training field 10, my home away from home."

Naruto followed the man or at least tried to, the weights were stupidly heavy. He gained five points of strength and vitality just on the trip to the training field.

"What took you so long?" Asuma asked, laughter recognizable in his voice.

Naruto chose to glare at the man.

"Okay, so you can work on that, for now, give me two clones."

"Why two?" asked Naruto. He was curious about why the man wanted two clones.

"One to work on chakra control and the other learn a simple futon jutsu."

"What about the [Chakra-To]?"

"We've got plenty of time. I want to get started on the futon jutsu first."

Two clones later and Naruto was left to his own devises, mostly just running laps or at least trying to. He would work on speed next.

Meanwhile, one clone was kept busy running up and down a tree, ankle weight free of course. The other clone was stuck with Asuma.

"So first things first, we need to get you a feel for wind techniques." The man walked to the three posts, setting a large candle on top of each then lighting them and lighting a cigarette. "So we'll start with you blowing out the candles from 10 meters. Then we'll work on your control and aim."

"Okay, but I don't know any wind jutsu."

"Kaze no iki no jutsu," said Asuma, forming just two handseal and breathing slowly, the wind slowly picking up speed and extinguishing the candles in a single breath and the man was standing at least twenty meters away. "It's not a powerful jutsu but it is a first step."

The clone nodded in understand. "What does your chakra do?"

"My chakra is in my lungs and pushed out of my mouth, it pulls in the surrounding currents and intensifies them by a fraction."

"I don't suppose you have scroll for this?" asked Naruto.

"You learn better from scrolls?" asked Asuma.

"Oh yeah."

"Well, for today, let's learn this one with the explanation I've given you. And any new technique I have for you I'll bring in scroll form. Deal?"

"Deal!"

**Quest Alert: Learn your first futon jutsu.**

**Train and practice to learn and control your first wind based technique.**

**Objective:**

**Learn and use [Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu]**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

Naruto's clone didn't get the chance to tap the accept button because the real Naruto stopped his training to hit the button himself. The clone shrugged and started to work based on Asuma's description and explanation.

It took a while to get the hang of it, apparently he'd been using way too much chakra at first. Thanks to Asuma, he was able to get that under control quickly.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Through diligent practice and careful study, 'Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu' Lvl 1 has been created.**

**[Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu (Active/Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP 20]**

A weak wind manipulation technique, frequently used to improve control over wind manipulation.

Passively increases Futon control 1%

Passively increases Futon accuracy 1%

**Quest Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp.**

**Quest Alert: Learn your first futon jutsu.**

**Train and practice to learn and control your first wind based technique.**

**Objective:**

**Learn and use [Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu]**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

The real Naruto again accepted the award only to be greeted with another quest notice.

**Quest Alert: Improve your Futon skills**

**Practice your wind techniques elevating their usefulness.**

**Objectives:**

**Earn 5 levels to any futon skill.**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

Naruto accepted the quest and went back to running.

The clone however, groaned in irritation.

"That's not bad, now let's just practice it a bit. Gain a bit of familiarity with it.

It didn't take long for Naruto's clone to gain the five levels with the skill, completing yet another quest while the real Naruto continued grinding out his bonus stat points.

**Quest Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp.**

**Quest Alert: Improve your Futon skills**

**Practice your wind techniques elevating their usefulness.**

**Objectives:**

**Earn 5 levels to any futon skill.**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto cheered a little even as yet another quest popped up.

**Quest Alert: Test your Futon skills accuracy.**

**Exercise control and accuracy with [Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu].**

**Objectives:**

**Extinguish all three candles at one time.**

**Extinguish all three candles one at a time.**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

"Nice work, kid. Now, let's see you control it. Let's see if you can put out the candles." Asuma lit the candles again.

Naruto's clone blew a breeze of wind at the candles taking out two of them, followed by Asuma lighting them again. It followed this pattern for a while. Naruto had to replace the clone a few times because it depleted its chakra. Eventually he did complete the quest.

**Quest Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp.**

**Quest Alert: Test your Futon skills accuracy.**

**Exercise control and accuracy with [Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu].**

**Objectives:**

**Extinguish all three candles at one time.**

**Extinguish all three candles one at a time.**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

"Alright, that's enough for today," said Asuma, collecting the mostly burnt down candles and sealing them in a scroll.

"It wasn't too bad, was it?" asked Naruto, looking eagerly at Asuma.

"Nope, not bad at all. We have plenty more to work on. I'll join you and Jiraiya-sama tomorrow morning so be ready to work." With that Asuma dispelled the clone sending all of the knowledge back to the real Naruto.

The real Naruto meanwhile kept himself very busy trying to gain 29 points of strength, vitality, and speed. The only thing he wasn't training was his dexterity simply because for that he needed trees or an obstacle course. It was going to be a long night to be sure.

So it was a tired, exhausted Naruto that dragged himself home at nearly midnight. Mission accomplished but boy was he hurting for his efforts. He may have over done it.

The walk up the stairs to his apartment seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. Opening his front door he was assaulted by the sound of bickering.

Inside were Karin and Sakura both were waiting for him.

"Finally, she's your problem now," shouted Sakura, nearly sprinting from the apartment.

"What did I miss?"

"You jerk, what's the big idea? You tell me we're family and that you're willing to do the tests to prove it then as soon as the preliminaries end you disappear."

"Ah, sorry about that, Karin-chan," Naruto said sweetly, trying to suck up and spare himself a beating.

"I guess I can forgive you . . . if you get me a date with that pretty boy Neji."

"Wha . . . ?" Naruto's jaw dropped in disbelief.

Karin suddenly cackled. "Oh, you should see the look on your face, it's too funny."

Naruto grumbled a bit at being pranked like that but he was too tired to retaliate. "So, it might be a few days before I have the free time to go get the testing done. You're welcome to hang out until then."

"Yeah, that's not really going to work," said Karin. "My team is supposed to leave first thing in the morning so . . . if we don't resolve this before then I'll be in really big trouble."

"Right, then to the Hokage's office we go," said Naruto, turning about face.

"Isn't it a bit late for that?"

"Shit," grumbled Naruto, turning around again. "Okay, so we'll have to go first thing in the morning."

"Great, you take the couch, I'm going to bed," ordered Karin, turning and walking into his bedroom and closing the door behind her.

"What the hell just happened?"

**You have slept on your shitty couch. HP &amp; CP are 50% restored.**

Naruto groaned as sleep left him behind. He was a bit slow to sit up and stretch, he could still feel the sprung springs impressed upon his back and legs. It itched something fierce as his skin decompressed.

"You know you live in a shithole right?" asked Karin, exiting the bedroom wearing one of his t-shirts.

"Yeah, I know," said Naruto, standing from the couch and walking into his kitchenette and grabbing some eggs and ham from the refrigerator to cook for himself and Karin.

"So why don't you move?"

"Jinchuuriki," he answered bluntly. It was a rough way of telling her but if he couldn't tell his family and still be accepted then what was the point?

"Which one?" asked Karin.

"Kyuubi."

"Ah, I thought your chakra felt funny. Like mine but different."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, cracking the eggs into a mixing bowl.

"I'm a sensor, a very strong sensor or so I've been told. I can tell stuff about people based on how their chakra feels, like your teammate Sasuke for example, his chakra feels tainted, bitter and really angry but also really sad and lonely. Or Sakura-teme's is bright and bubbly and very delicate, probably why she's such a good medic. Yours feels a lot like mine but different, probably because of the Kyuubi."

"That is very cool, could you teach me?"

"I don't know, I just kind of do it. I don't know how but I just do."

"Oh." Naruto frowned a bit that he couldn't learn the skill, it was a little disappointing but not the end of the world.

Karin sat down at the table while Naruto continued cooking. For a bit it looked like she was debating with herself about asking something. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before her curiosity finally got the better of her. "Hey, why do I feel some kind of strange genjutsu emanating from you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You seem to be emanating some kind of genjutsu, at least I think it's a genjutsu. It feels weird, like your chakra is influencing the world around you, imposing its will."

That surprised Naruto a lot. Was that was the gamer thing was? A genjutsu capable of imposing its will upon the world around Naruto, imposing his will? "I think I know what you're talking about but we should talk to the old man first."

"What old man?" asked Karin, clearly not knowing to whom he was referring.

"The Hokage, I call him old man all the time. He's like a grandfather to me and he treats like his grandson, he doesn't seem to mind," explained Naruto, pouring the mixed eggs into the heated frying pan on the burner.

"I guess that makes sense, you being a jinchuuriki and all. From what I've heard they are usually very close to the Kage of the time, makes them more loyal or something."

"He's not close to me just because I'm a jinchuuriki . . . at least I don't think so." Her statement bothered Naruto quite a bit more than it should have. Right up until she'd said that, he was absolutely certain of his relationship with the old man, now he couldn't help but wonder if she just might be right. He shook his head once to refocus on cooking, he could worry about his relationship with the Hokage later.

"I hope eggs and ham are okay with you," said Naruto, plating the food then carrying the two plates to the table, setting one in front of Karin.

"Yeah, thanks for cooking."

"It's not a problem, I was cooking for myself anyway."

The food was good if a bit heavy but Naruto knew he'd need the protein to recover after working so hard the day before.

"Yo, brat, where's mine?" asked a voice from the window.

Naruto and Karin both turned quickly to see Jiraiya sitting on the window ledge, the fire escape just behind him.

"I didn't know what time you were coming so I didn't make any for you," he answered both honestly and sourly.

"So make me some while the girl gets dressed," ordered the Sannin.

"Who are you to order me around?" demanded Karin.

"His trainer for the next month," said Jiraiya, looking at her but pointing directly at Naruto.

Karin huffed once but left anyway.

"I've got to say kid, I never thought you had it in you. You're what thirteen and already bedding the ladies," Jiraiya couldn't help but giggle perversely at the end of his statement.

"Bedding? What the hell, Ero-Sennin? She's my cousin you asshole."

"Oh, forbidden love then," he giggled even more, a notebook now in hand scribbling notes.

"What are you doing?" asked Naruto, appalled by the old man's behavior.

"Taking notes for my next book. Icha Icha Forbidden. What do you think, good title, eh?"

"You write those books?"

"Wait, you're Jiraiya-sama?" asked Karin, returning fully clothed. "Can you sign my book?" she suddenly had a little orange book in hand.

"Oh, a fan," said Jiraiya, happily taking her book and autographing it. "Always happy to service my fans."

"Hey, no, she's off limits, Ero-Sennin, go service some slut. You leave my family alone."

"Aw, aren't you just the sweetest overprotective cousin in the world. But you can butt out, he won't be servicing me any time soon. I already told you I like pretty boys, not dirty old men. That doesn't mean I can't be a fan of his amazing literature," Karin managed to embarrass Naruto and insult Jiraiya in one fell swoop.

"She's reminds me of Kushina," laughed Jiraiya, not bothered at all by the insult.

"You knew my mom?" asked Naruto, catching Jiraiya completely off guard.

"Of course, you think that Konoha's resident seal master wouldn't know the previous jinchuuriki?" he covered, it wasn't very smooth but it was effective enough.

Naruto looked at him a bit suspiciously but he knew it would have to wait. There was a lot to do today. "So, before we start, Ero-Sennin, we need to go to the old man's office and get things sorted out for Karin."

"What's to sort out?"

"She was taken as a kid by Kusa and is one of their shinobi. I want to prove she's Uzumaki."

"So I can defect," said Karin.

"Defect? What's that?" asked Naruto.

"Quit Kusa and join Konoha. If she is Uzumaki that won't be an issue. If we'd known she was in Kusa before, we'd have gone to war over it. They have no fucking business touching an Uzumaki, let alone pressing one into their shinobi corps," fumed Jiraiya. Gone was the jovial older pervert and in his place stood a very angry and dangerous shinobi. "Come on, we're going to the hospital first then to see the old man. If she's Uzumaki like you say then Kusa will have fucking hell to pay and you can be damn sure I'll be collecting more than just a pound of flesh from those fuckers."

Naruto and Karin were both sweating nervously, the killing intent Jiraiya was emitting was beyond intense, beyond terrifying.

"Move, now," ordered Jiraiya, leaping out the window.

Naruto and Karin were very quickly on his heals for fear of making him even the slightest bit angry.

With Jiraiya in the lead, the trip to the hospital was fast and the time at the hospital was faster than anything Naruto had ever experienced. They walked in, Jiraiya accosted an iryonin and dragged them all to a lab room where Jiraiya ordered him to run the blood tests in a hurry. Less than 20 minutes later they were standing in front of the Hokage's desk while Jiraiya raged and the old man listened silently, the pulsing vain in the old man's neck the only sign that he was just as furious as Jiraiya.

"I see," said the old man. He opened a drawer and pulled out a forehead protector which he tossed to Karin. "You're now a Konoha shinobi, Naruto will help you with your registration later. I suggest you stick close to him for the next few days." He then looked toward a corner of the room before stating, "Horse, I want every single Kusagakure shinobi expelled from the village immediately, if they resist, deadly force is authorized."

Naruto and Karin could stare wide eyed. It was so extreme.

"I want to assure you Karin, if we had known that Kusa abducted you we'd have rained down hell on them to ensure you were brought home."

"Home?"

"Konoha was always the closest of allies with the Uzumaki clan. It is our greatest shame that we failed to assist them when Uzushiogakure was destroyed. So yes, this is now your home as it always should have been."

Karin nodded, a few tears in her eyes threatening to spill over.

"Now then, we'll sort out your living arrangements in a few days once we know you're safe and secure here, for now you stay with Naruto. Even then, it might take a month or two before you can leave the village on missions though. We have to make certain that Kusa knows you're off limits."

"I'll handle it personally after the exams," offered Jiraiya.

"No, I'll have a team of ANBU handle it. You are going to spend some time with Naruto-kun. You're his godfather and you're going to start acting like it."

Naruto gasped. "Godfather? What are you talking about?"

"Shit," cursed Jiraiya. "Look, kid, I was going to talk to you about it eventually."

"You're my godfather? But . . . where have you been?"

"Keeping you safe," he answered. It was lame but no less true.

"What do you mean?" demanded Naruto, starting to feel anger bubbling up inside him.

"Do you know what you are in the world of shinobi?"

"A jinchuuriki, so what?"

"To the rest of the shinobi world it means you're a weapon. And given who your parents were it means you're an extremely dangerous weapon that no country wants aimed in their general direction."

Naruto frowned, he understood what Jiraiya said but that still didn't explain why he wasn't around.

"I was busy making sure that those countries that feared what you might become either didn't find out you existed or find out who you were. Now, the village didn't help us much in that regards but at the very least I was able to keep most of the details about you obscured. So while villages know you exist, they don't know jack else." Jiraiya explained, not trying to placate Naruto but laying it out in cold hard facts. "In addition to keeping you safe, I also spend a great deal of my time stopping larger threats to the village as a whole."

"But you couldn't visit or nothing?" Naruto wasn't as angry as he thought he would be. Jiraiya was doing important work, a big part of which was keeping him safe from a distance.

"No, I couldn't, if anyone ever saw us together it would put you in a shit ton of danger that even I wouldn't have been able to prevent."

"So what's changed?"

Jiraiya hesitated to answer this question but he knew if he wanted any kind of chance he had to be honest. "There is an organization of S-Class nukenin called Akatsuki. I don't know much about them yet but one thing I've heard is that they want the biju."

"What do they want with jinchuuriki?"

"You're not listening, they don't care about the jinchuuriki. They want the biju."

"So what happens to the jinchuuriki?"

"They die," answered Jiraiya. "I've put so much time and effort into keeping you alive, I'll be damned if I let those Akatsuki fuckers kill you now."

Naruto's frown deepened. He understood Jiraiya's reasoning even if he didn't really like it.

"Um, Jiraiya-sama, who were Naruto's parents?" asked Karin, timidly. She'd been listening to the conversation and understood that Jiraiya did what was best for Naruto at the time, even if Naruto lived a hard life because of it, he was still alive which was much more important.

Jiraiya groaned, then looked at Naruto, clearly the boy was curious about the same. "Alright kid, but let me be clear, this is very dangerous information. Don't go shouting it all over the elemental nations."

Naruto nodded.

"Your father was Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage and you mother as you know was Uzumaki Kushina."

"My father . . . he did this . . . why?"

"If you were him, what would you do?" asked the Sandaime.

Naruto looked down sadly. He understood, how could his father ask another family to give what he was unwilling to give himself?

"So, Naruto, can you forgive me for not being there? I'm truly sorry to have missed so much of your life and I know things haven't always been easy for you, hell, I'm sure a lot of it was downright hellish. But I'm here now, and don't think it's just because I have no other choice. I've always wanted to be here but keeping you safe was more important than what I wanted."

"I don't know," said Naruto honestly. "This is a lot to take in at once."

"I know, and if we had more time you could take your time to think about it but we don't have the luxury right now. If you can't forgive me then that's just something I'll have to live with but don't think for a second you're going to get out of training with me. I'm going to make you strong even if it kills me and you hate me for the rest of my days."

"Okay, let's just train, I'll think about the godfather thing later."

"Sounds good, brat, now let's get a move on."

"Now hold on a minute," said Sarutobi. "Before that, there are something you need to be made aware of, possibly Karin too if Naruto is okay with her knowing."

"Really, old man? Again?"

"Naruto-kun, if he's going to be training you, he has to know so he can train you properly," explained Sarutobi. "I know this is your secret but when it comes to your safety, I will do whatever it takes."

"Because I'm the jinchuuriki?" asked Naruto, Karin's words from that morning echoing through his mind in that moment.

"No, because you're like a grandson to me, just as your father and mother were like my own children. I don't care that you're a jinchuuriki, I never have and if you don't know that by now . . ."

"Sorry, I know that. I just . . . I don't know . . ."

"It's fine, it's even a legitimate concern but I swear to you. I care about Naruto first and jinchuuriki second. Now, can we move on?"

"Yeah, Karin can stay. I just need something from you?"

"Oh, and what can I do for you?" The old man smiled in his normal kind and caring way.

"I need the intermediate scrolls for Kageken and Uzuken, and if you can manage it a beginner scroll of the Uzuken for Karin."

Sarutobi laughed. "Rooster, would you go collect copies of the scrolls young Naruto requested?"

"Hai," came the response from an unseen ANBU.

"So, would you like to explain or shall I?" asked Sarutobi.

"I can," said Naruto, still feeling slightly reluctant to explain. It took a while to explain everything he'd learned so far about the game to his cousin and Jiraiya. When it was done, Jiraiya was still skeptical but Karin bought in fully.

"That's what I felt in your chakra then?" asked Karin.

"Yeah, I think so."

"What did you feel, Karin?" asked Sarutobi, very interested in her sensing ability.

"So, Naruto's chakra seems to be projecting something that feels like a genjutsu but not, it's like its imposing its will on reality, altering it to fit his needs."

That seemed to really catch Jiraiya's interest, but he didn't comment on it.

"Naruto, can you invite me to a team?" asked Sarutobi. "You weren't able to do that the last time we talked."

"I can try," said Naruto, wordlessly forming a team then inviting all three of them, only to get an error message for both Jiraiya and Sarutobi.

**Unable invite 'Jiraiya' to a team. Cannot form a team with a member 20 or more levels different from your own.**

**Unable invite 'Sarutobi Hiruzen' to a team. Cannot form a team with a member 20 or more levels different from your own.**

"It's giving me an error message for you and Ero-Sennin. Your levels are way too high but Karin was invited no problem.

"This is fucking awesome," cheered Karin, her hands flying through screens and pressing buttons no one else could see.

The arrival of Rooster with the requested scrolls gave Naruto the opportunity he needed to show Jiraiya more.

"Karin, catch," he said, tossing her the beginner scroll.

"Can I really just learn this?" asked Karin, blinking owlishly several times.

"That's why I asked them to get it."

"Um, it says I need the maximum level of [Advanced Academy Taijutsu] to learn it."

"Crap," cursed Naruto, followed by a sigh. "If you look in your skill, what taijutsu do you have now?"

"Intermediate, but it says I have the maximum level in it."

"Well that's something at least. So we need to get you a scroll for [Advanced Academy Taijutsu]. Then you need to train your taijutsu up and you'll be able to learn it."

"Rooster," called Sarutobi. "If you wouldn't mind?"

"Hai," replied a bodiless voice.

Meanwhile, Naruto picked up his two scrolls and was greeted immediately by blue windows.

**You've obtained the skill book [Intermediate Uzuken Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the decline button.

**You've obtained the skill book [Intermediate Kageken Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the decline button again.

**You've obtained the skill book [Intermediate Uzuken Taijutsu] &amp; [Intermediate Kageken Taijutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

This time Naruto tapped the accept button causing the two scrolls to go up in flames and a lot of taijutsu knowledge to flow into his head rapidly.

**You've upgraded your skill 'Beginner Kage no Uzuken Taijutsu' to 'Intermediate Kage no Uzuken Taijutsu'.**

**[Intermediate Kage no Uzuken Taijutsu (Passive) Lv50 Exp 0.00%]**

**Uzuken is the traditional taijutsu style of the Uzumaki Clan. It relies on hit and run tactics, attacking from multiple directions and angles causing confusion and disorientation to opponents. Often used with weapons to great effect. Kageken relies heavily on the use of Kage Bunshin. Designed to use coordinated strikes between the user and his clones to close on his opponent to inflict damage and evade damage at the same time. Highly effective but very difficult to learn given the chakra burdens of Kage Bunshin. The combination of the two styles has created something new and very dangerous for anyone stupid enough to face a master of such a style. (Requires 'Advanced Kageken Taijutsu' and 'Advanced Uzuken Taijutsu' to upgrade.)**

**Passively increases STR 10%**

**Passively increases VIT 25%**

**Passively increases DEX 25%**

"Okay, I'm little more convinced, but how do we prove you've learned it?" asked Jiraiya.

"That's not the easiest thing to show I guess but if you've got a jutsu scroll for me, I could learn that and show you?"

Jiraiya pulled out a scroll and opened it then started scanning down it before pausing. He put his hand to the scroll and channeled some chakra into it producing another scroll.

Naruto's [Observe] told him what the scroll was as well as the new scroll that Jiraiya unsealed. It was an earth technique called [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu].

He watched as Jiraiya pulled out another scroll, this one a blank and two seal tags [Fukusei Fuda], placing one seal on each scroll. Jiraiya then pushed a little chakra into the tag on the [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu] scroll. The tag flared yellow then disintegrated, then the other tag flared yellow and disintegrated. Naruto was shocked to see there were now two scrolls of [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu] sitting on the desk, the formerly blank scroll no longer blank.

Jiraiya resealed the original scroll and tossed the other to Naruto.

Naruto caught the scroll but ignored the blue message window that popped up. He was still in awe of what he'd just seen. "That was awesome, can you teach me that seal?"

"Sure, it's usually used in spy work but I can see where it would be beneficial for you . . . that is assuming you're not bullshitting me."

"I'm not and I'll prove it right now," said Naruto. Now looking at the message window.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto hit the accept button causing the scroll to go up in flames and Naruto to learn a new skill.

**[Doton: Kabe no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 0.00% CP: 100 per wall]**

A C-Rank ninjutsu. You can now create a basic wall of earth and stone with 500 HP from ground beneath your feet to protect you from an incoming attack or just hide you from view.

Max number of walls you can create: 1

"That is kind of bad ass," said Naruto.

"Show me," ordered Jiraiya.

"Not in my office, go out to a training field," cut in Sarutobi.

Naruto and Jiraiya both chuckled sheepishly.

"What about me?" asked Karin.

"You're staying with us until everything with Kusa gets sorted," said Jiraiya, the man seemed to be very protective of Karin already, even though he'd only met her an hour ago.

"Oh, and should we tell Asuma-sensei?" Naruto asked. It would make things easier.

"Is my bratty son helping you train too?"

"Yeah."

"Then yeah, you should probably tell him if for no other reason than to speed up your training."

"Okay, I think we've bugged the old man enough for one day, let's go already," ordered Jiraiya, ushering them out of the office. "Oh, and send rooster to find us when he comes back with that scroll."

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV29** Next Level: **16.21%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **6250/6250

**CP: **4631/4631

**STR: **101 (35.10) = 136.10

**VIT: **88 (247.00) = 335.00

**DEX: **72 (56.96) = 128.96

**INT: **65 (108.13) = 173.13

**WIS: **61 (47.28) = 108.28

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **239 (59.75) = 298.75

**SPD: **72 (111.64) = 183.64

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir** (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader** (+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of**), Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. ****His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, son of Yondaime Hokage and Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?**

**Point: **11

**Ryo: **454650

**Combat Skills****:**

**[Observe (Passive/Active) Lv44 Exp: 17.14% CP: 5] **

**T**hrough continuous observation, a skill to observe objects, situations, and persons was generated that allows for quick information gathering. The higher the skill, the greater the data obtained.

**[Tree Climbing (Passive) Lv56 17.14% CP: 5 per 5 seconds]**

By using your chakra to stick to surfaces you can now move more freely and better use your chakra.

Passively increases WIS 38%

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra 28%

**[Natural Futon Affinity (Passive) Lv9 Exp: 98.14%]**

The natural ability to manipulate and control wind style ninjutsu.

Passively increases Futon effects 18%

**[Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu (Active/Passive) Lv11 Exp: 45.12% CP 20]**

A weak wind manipulation technique, frequently used to improve control over wind manipulation.

Passively increases Futon control 11%

Passively increases Futon accuracy 10%

**Underworld Skills:**

**[Bookmaking (Active) Lv7 Exp: 74.11% Ryo: ?]**

Taking bets on life and death and making money from it. This underworld skill can earn you a lot of ryo but may also cost you everything. You are now able to set odds, calculate payouts, and take commission.

Passively increase LUK by 7%


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: So totally got bombarded after the last chapter release. Forgot to update Naruto's description, already gone back and corrected, sorry for that. Even after that I had to add some clarity, Naruto is the son of the Nidaime Jinchuuriki.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

Naruto was bouncing with energy on the short walk out of the Hokage Tower. Things were looking up, he'd gotten yet another jutsu just building up his repertoire a little bit more. One more doton jutsu and he'll complete another objective.

"Yo, here you guys are," greeted Asuma, as the troupe exited the tower.

"Yeah, had to see your old man about a few things. Anyway, Karin is going to be training with us the next few days," explained Jiraiya, continuing the walk toward the training fields, Asuma falling in with them easily enough.

Asuma looked to her forehead and nodded in immediate understanding. "Sounds like we've got Naruto a sparring partner."

"Rather not," said Karin lightly, sweating nervously. "No offense, but I'm more of a genjutsu, iryojutsu, support type. I don't really do the taijutsu thing."

"We'll see about that," said Jiraiya, smiling as if he had something planned.

"Karin, there you are you stupid bitch," shouted a voice interrupting the conversation.

The group halted to look at the source. It was Karin's former teammate, Takashi.

"Asuma, take them to the field, I'm going to have a chat with the morons," ordered Jiraiya, looking at the young Kusa boy that called on Karin like that.

"Right, you have fun with that, we'll see you in a bit," said Asuma, putting a hand the shoulder of Naruto and Karin then vanishing with a shunshin.

They reappeared in the training field Asuma had worked Naruto in the day before.

"So, Naruto, I'll take a pair of clones again, what will you be working on?" asked Asuma.

"I actually need to use the obstacle course back at the KSA, work on my dexterity," he replied.

"I can help you with that," said Karin, brandishing a two handfuls of kunai and shuriken.

"That could work," said Naruto.

"Well then, you two work on that until Jiraiya comes back. I'll put your clones back to work on improving their control with futon jutsu."

Karin didn't even give Naruto a chance to get away from her before she started hurling weapons at him, laughing with glee as she did so.

Asuma just shook his head, trying and failing to stifle a chuckle.

"So what are we doing today, Asuma-sensei?" asked one of the remaining clones.

"One of you get to your tree. The other, we're back to blowing out candles." Asuma set up the posts again with new candles, this time he put five candles on each post in a 'plus' formation. "Your goal is to only extinguish the center candle without disturbing the other four."

**Quest Alert: Refine your Futon control.**

**Practice your wind techniques blowing out specific candles.**

**Objectives:**

**Extinguish only the 3 center candles.**

**Extinguish only the 3 rear candles.**

**Extinguish only the 3 front candles.**

**Extinguish only the 3 left candles.**

**Extinguish only the 3 right candles.**

**Completion Award: 250000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 50000 Exp**

"I get the feeling this is going to suck, a lot."

Asuma smirked, putting a cigarette to his mouth and lighting it. "Better get to work."

A couple hours passed and Jiraiya finally joined them, a grin from ear to ear on his face.

"What's got you so happy?" asked Asuma.

"Had to chase those Kusa morons out of the village and back toward their border for nearly an hour before I turned back. I may have left a few toads to continue the chase to make sure they get back across the border."

Asuma chuckled. "Poor bastards."

"How's the kid doing?"

"Good, he's got one shadow clone working on tree climbing, the other is trying to refine control of wind. Karin is sharpening her kunai and a shuriken accuracy."

"What about the real Naruto?"

"He's playing target for Karen, says he's using it to improve his dexterity."

"What do you think about this whole 'gamer' thing the kids got going on?"

"What 'gamer' thing?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"No, mind explaining?"

So Jiraiya explained what he knew of it.

"That actually explains so much. Just before this latest group became genin, two of my students started hanging out with Naruto a lot. Before I knew it they were improving not just quickly but in drastic ways. It seems I owe the kid a lot."

"Huh, he's a good one, like his parents."

"If you say so," said Asuma, pretending he had no idea what the Sannin was talking about.

"Naruto, how long until you're done with your dexterity?" called Jiraiya.

Naruto kept dodge and scrambling to avoid Karin's attack. "A couple hours probably."

"Alright, cut that out for now, you two can resume flirting later."

"Ero-Sennin!" howled Karin and Naruto together.

Jiraiya just laughed. "Get over here already."

Naruto and Karin ran toward the old man.

"So what have you got for me, Ero-Sennin?"

"And me?" asked Karin.

Jiraiya tossed two scrolls to Karin. "You can work on those. Naruto can give you a clone to practice the genjutsu on."

"Ooh, a new genjutsu [Genjutsu Shibari] and an iryojutsu [Chakra no Mesu]," both of them going up in flame a second later.

"What the hell?" shouted Asuma.

"What? I just learned them both," explained Karin with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Did you know about this?" Asuma asked, looking at Jiraiya.

"Yeah, saw it happen earlier. Didn't I tell you about that?"

"No, and does Karin have the gamer thing too?"

"No, she's in a team with Naruto that allows her to use some of the game features. One of which is learning instantly from skill books or scrolls. Naruto can do the same thing."

"That's some straight up bullshit," whined Asuma. "What's the point of training then?"

"Just because I learn the skill doesn't mean I'm any good with it. I have to train it to make stronger if I want it to be useful. That takes a shitload of time, not to mention I still have to train my body and mind," Naruto argued with the jounin.

"I suppose," said Asuma. "Still, that's a pretty overpowered ability isn't it?"

"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted with a giant grin.

Asuma couldn't help but chuckle at Naruto's enthusiasm. "Well, in that case I guess you can have these." The man pulled out two scrolls and handed them to Naruto.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Beginner Chakra-To].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto immediate hit the accept button.

**[Beginner Chakra-To (Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00%]**

Chakra-To blades are used to enhance your close range combat capabilities.

Passively increases chakra-to weapon damage 15%

Passively increases chakra-to weapon critical strike chance 5%

Naruto was giddy after learning that one.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu]**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto again hit the accept button.

**[Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 100]**

A C-Rank ninjutsu. A relatively simple technique that creates a sudden gust of wind. Inflicts 1-75 Directional Cone Damage. (Damage reduces the further you are from the target)

"Ooh, I like."

"Yeah, well, let's get you some practice using them. Depending on where we're at I have a few more jutsu I might be willing to teach you," offered Asuma.

"Right, well, my clones are all yours sir," said Naruto, creating another clone for Asuma.

"Okay, my turn, kid," said Jiraiya. The man formed a few quick hand seals then slammed a hand on the ground, calling out the technique for Naruto. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu.

There was burst of smoke obscuring everything from view, before a gust of wind cleared it out to reveal a large orange toad with blue markings, holding a large scroll in its mouth.

"This is Gama, he's the holder of the Gama Kuchiyose contract. A contract you're going to sign," instructed Jiraiya.

The toad then spit the contract out, the thing unrolling upon contact with the ground.

Naruto knelt down in front of it to see the various signatures. And in the slot just before the first blank was his father's. He took a moment to run his fingers over the writing, it was cleaner than his own writing, a bit fancier maybe.

"Draw a bit of blood from your hand and sign your name with it," instructed Jiraiya.

Naruto bit into his thumb drawing blood easily enough, then smearing some on his forefinger then writing his name, trying to mimic his father's writing.

"Now just put a bit of blood on each of your finger tips and press all five to the bottom, just below your name."

Naruto did as he was told.

"And that's it," said Jiraiya.

Gama sucked the scroll back into his mouth, rolling up as it went back to him.

"Okay, so now for the hand seals," said Jiraiya, smiling proudly. He spend the next few minutes running Naruto through the sequence then making him practice it over and over again. "Alright, that's enough, now give a try."

"How much chakra should I use?"

"Can you see how much you use?"

"Sort of, I can see the chakra pool deplete giving me a rough idea."

"Okay, let's start with 100 Chakra . . . whatever."

"Chakra points," said Naruto. "Can do." Naruto ran through the handseals and allowed it to pull on his chakra until he was close to the 100 CP mark then he released the technique slapping the ground, spawning the scrawl of [Fuinjutsu] symbols.

When the smoke cleared there was a small tadpole with just two hind legs.

"Okay, that gives us a measuring stick to go by. Now do it with 500 Chakra Points."

Naruto nodded and did as he was told.

This time when the smoke cleared, there was a small orange toad with bluish markings around his eyes and mouth wearing a blue jacket.

"Yo, give me a snack," he demanded.

**A special skill has been learned through specific instruction.**

**Your Trainer has passed down to you a skill to summon toads, 'Kuchiyose no Jutsu' Lv1 has been learned.**

**[Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: Variable]**

An S-Rank Fuinjutsu. You can now summon the toads of Mount Myoboku to assist in an unlimited number of tasks from fishing to combat. The amount of chakra you apply determines the size and capabilities of the toad summoned.

Familiars:

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

Naruto wasn't sure what to do exactly but he did have a candy in his pocket that he'd taken from the old man's desk that morning. He fished it out of his jacket pocket and held it out to him.

The little guy leaped up easily and snatched the candy. He quickly unwrapped it and tossed it in his mouth. "Thanks, I'm Gamakichi."

"Naruto."

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp.**

**Quest Alert: Preparation t-minus 29:02:44:15.89**

**Train harder than you have ever trained before to prepare for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Kuchiyose no Jutsu]**

**Learn [Chakra-To]**

**Learn [Futon Affinity]**

**Learn 3 futon jutsu.**

**Learn 2 doton jutsu.**

**Earn 10 levels to [Fuinjutsu]**

**Earn 5 Levels**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Gain 1 Toad Familiar**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

'**Prepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

'**Underprepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**Having successfully summon a young and impressionable toad that you can mold as you see fit, you've unlocked 'Familiar' menu.**

**Familiar:**

**Gamakichi – 500 CP + 10 CP per 5 seconds to maintain.**

"Nice to meet you, partner," said Naruto, crouching down to look at the little guy more closely.

As soon as Naruto got down low enough, Gamakichi jumped up and landed on his head.

"You too, partner," replied the toad.

"Okay, now let's see if you can get something bigger," ordered Jiraiya, he looked pleased with Naruto's success.

"Hang on a sec, the game gave me something new," said Naruto.

"Yo, what's all this stuff floating in the air?" asked Kichi, waving at some of it.

"Familiar," he said aloud, causing a new window to pop up that he's never seen before.

"Whoa, what's that? Is that me?" asked Kichi, pointing at the new window.

"Yeah, it's a special ability I have," explained Naruto. "It makes it so I can help you improve faster."

"Really? That's kind of awesome. But why does it say I'm level 1. What does that mean? You're not saying I'm weak are you?"

"No, everyone starts at level one," said Naruto, trying to reassure the little toad.

"Oh, so what is HP and CP mean?"

"HP is how much damage you can take before you disappear. CP is how much Chakra you have. Right now it says you have 500 HP and 250 CP, that's pretty good for level one," explained Naruto.

"So what happens at level two?"

"You get stronger," he answered simply.

"So what's that?" he asked, pointing to a section of the screen.

"That's your jacket, I can eventually replace it with something stronger, that there is where you would equip a weapon if you had one or even wanted one," explained pointing to an open box.

"What's that?" he asked pointing to another area.

"Not sure," said Naruto. It looked like a talent tree. Each box represented an ability he could learn and then those abilities could gain levels like his own. But these abilities were preset, he just had to select the ability when Gamakichi gained a level or maybe a few levels. He'd have to wait and see. "I think it's a skill tree. See these boxes, these are things you can learn."

"How do you know I can learn them?"

"It's part of my ability," he answered.

"That's kind of cool. I think you're going to be a good summoner."

"Thanks, I think you're going to be a great summon."

"Thanks," said Kichi. "So now what?"

"If you two are done messing around, Naruto needs to practice summoning the larger toads," answered Jiraiya.

"Cool, can I stick around?"

"Sure," said Jiraiya. "Just make sure you put in a good word for Naruto no matter who he summons."

"I can do that," said Kichi.

Before Naruto could try to summon again he received another alert.

**Completion Awarded: 250000**

**Quest Alert: Refine your Futon control.**

**Practice your wind techniques blowing out specific candles.**

**Objectives:**

**Extinguish only the 3 center candles.**

**Extinguish only the 3 rear candles.**

**Extinguish only the 3 front candles.**

**Extinguish only the 3 left candles.**

**Extinguish only the 3 right candles.**

**Completion Award: 250000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 50000 Exp**

He quickly completed the quest only to get another quest.

**Quest Alert: Improve your Futon skills**

**Practice your wind techniques elevating their usefulness.**

**Objectives:**

**Earn 10 levels to [Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu] skill.**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

"Hold on, I need to make a new clone to train with Asuma-sensei," said Naruto, forming another clone sucking up half his chakra in an instant. He then sat and used [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] to replenish the spent chakra, only to apply a [Shosen Fuda] to himself to heal the damage.

"Ready?" asked Jiraiya, seeing Naruto finally standing again.

"I think so, how much chakra do you want me to use this time?"

"How much have you got?"

"A little over forty-six hundred," he answered.

"Then use forty-five hundred and see what you get.

Naruto widened his eyes a bit, that would be the most chakra he'd ever used in one go. "I've never used that much at once. Is it safe?"

"Of course," he answered.

"Okay," said Naruto, unable to prevent feeling slightly nervous.

Once again, handseals done and funneling chakra into the technique, it taking a fair amount of time to channel that much chakra. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu," he said as he allowed the technique to finish.

Naruto found himself suddenly elevated several dozen meters above the ground. When the smoke cleared he found himself standing atop a massive hulking pale blue-green frog.

"Uncle Gamaken," shouted Kichi in amusement.

Naruto looked around at the massive toad. He appeared to be wearing a simple waste band that served only to hold two massive swords in place.

**Gamaken Lv?**

Naruto opened the familiar window again and it now had an arrow near the image of Kichi. Naruto tapped it and the screen image changed to Gamaken. Sadly for Naruto the screen was filled with nothing but question marks on his skills and stats.

"Who summoned me?"

"I did," said Naruto, introducing himself. "My name is Naruto. I just signed the contact today. See, there's Jiraiya-sensei down there."

"Ah, I see, do you need me to fight someone?"

"No, just training in summoning," he answered.

"Ah, I'm going home," he said before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto was not happy about that because he was still in the air and left to fall to probably several broken limbs if he survived at all. Thankfully, Jiraiya came through for him and caught him.

"Thanks for the save, Ero-Sennin."

"Yeah, yeah, brat, whatever. Good job summoning Hiro. I think maybe five hundred more chakra points and you might be able to summon Gamabunta, the boss toad."

"I don't have more chakra than that, I guess it will be awhile before I can summon him," replied Naruto.

"Probably, but you have another option," he said, jabbing a finger into Naruto's gut.

"Kyuubi? I've used its chakra in the past but I don't know how I did it."

"Well, we're going to have to work on doing it by choice. It's a valuable tool if you can master it. For now though, we need you to just be able to call on his chakra at will."

"How do we do that?" asked Naruto.

"Well, we have a couple options. We can put you in life threatening danger."

"Pass," said Naruto flatly.

"Or you can try meditation. With your 'gamer' thing, that may be the best option."

"Okay, how do I meditate?"

"You sit down, quiet your mind, and let the world fade away," he answered.

"That doesn't sound too hard."

"Ha, just wait until you try it," laughed Jiraiya.

"That laugh makes me think it's a lot harder than I think."

"Cause it is. No time like the present, get to it, kid."

Naruto sat down as ordered, closing his eyes. He tried to clear his head but he kept reviewing all the new shit he'd learned today in addition to needing to train up Gamakichi. He also wondered how his friends were, how their training was going and if they worried about him at all.

"Stop kid, what are you thinking about?"

"What I've learned today, my friends."

"Okay, let's just start by letting go of what you learned today. You've got a lot of time to train all of those things, but this needs to be your focus. This skill, technique, whatever you want to call it is important, more than any of those."

Once Jiraiya put it in perspective like that it was easy to focus on letting that information go. He had time to practice, to learn and improve. And just like that the only thing running through his head was concern for his friends.

"Now as to your friends. Tell me something, what are you going to do if they are ever in danger and you're out of chakra? Sure, its life threatening and you might accidentally draw on the Kyuubi's chakra but what if you don't. Wouldn't it be better if you could call on its chakra any time you want?"

"Yeah, it would. Thanks, Ero-Sennin."

And there it was, he was able to put away all the stray thoughts that were previously clouding his mind. He was focused on the Kyuubi, specifically it's chakra and just like that his thoughts turned inward.

"Uh, bro, where are we?" asked Kichi.

Naruto opened his eyes to find he was indeed somewhere else. "What the hell?"

"That's what I'm saying."

Naruto looked around, he was in steam tunnel. There pipes running down the corridor ahead of him while the corridor itself was poorly lit with flickering yellow-orange lights. The tile floor was barely visible through the standing murky water covering it. The most unusually thing to him was the lack of [Observe] messages, it had become such a part of his life that to not see any was just strange.

He looked down at his goggles to see if they were picking up anything, they showed the map was centered on the training field where he was sitting only moments before.

"I think this is an illusion," said Gamakichi.

"I don't know, I think this might be something else, something to do with the Kyuubi," he said, looking toward the tunnel leading out of the room he was currently in.

"So, we follow the path?" asked Kichi.

"Yeah, I guess so," said Naruto, starting to slog through the watery tunnel.

"This place is really creepy, bro. I keep expecting shit to jump out at us," said Kichi.

"Like what, giant oozes or something?" asked Naruto with a chuckle.

"First, what's an ooze? And is that thing an ooze?" he asked pointing just ahead of them.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," said Naruto, pulling out his new chakra-to from the small holster on the back of his belt.

**Mind Sludge Lv 29**

**HP: 2500/2500**

**CP: 500/500**

**This sludge pollutes your mindscape with doubt and fear, don't let it make you doubt yourself or you may just have to relive your worst fear.**

"Okay, so this place is your mind," said Kichi. "And that thing is polluting your mind. So we're going to kill it right?"

"That's the plan," said Naruto, moving on it quickly, slicing off large bit of its body with extreme ease. He wasn't prepared for the chunks he cut off to explode and burn him like acid when some of the gunk landed on him.

"Ow, bro, that stuff burns," complained Kichi, his little webbed hand pawing at some sludge that landed on him.

"I noticed," said Naruto, backing away from the sludge. He adapted though, he always did. Making a switch to hit and run tactics seemed to work better. He used [Chakra Speed] to get in close, slice into it and get back out before the sliced off bit exploded in a rain of acid.

It died eventually, bubbling and oozing even in death.

"Hey, I gained like, five levels, what's that about?"

"You gained experience for being with me while I killed it."

"But I didn't do anything?"

"Did you learn anything? And you took a little damage didn't you?"

"Well yeah, but does that really count?"

"Sure it does," said Naruto. "For now, you're probably safer hanging out up there until your level gets closer to my own."

"What about those skills or whatever? Do you think I have anything there that can help?

"I don't know, want to look now or wait until we get out of this place. You're probably going to gain a few more levels if there are any more of those slimes in here."

"What do you think?"

"I think we should wait but that's just me," said Naruto.

"So we wait," agreed Kichi.

After that the pair continued down the hall, running into a few more of the Mind Sludges and killing them and as just as Naruto predicted, Kichi did gain a more levels.

Naruto could see up ahead that the tunnel would be opening into a giant room with cage bars in the background. He was cautious as he entered to room. If this was the end then there would like be a boss. He just hoped the boss wasn't actually the Kyuubi. Turned out he was right to be cautious. As soon as he entered the room the water seemed to coalesce into a giant ooze.

**Nightmare Ooze Lv 33**

**HP: 5000/5000**

**CP: 1500/1500**

**This amalgamation is the culmination of all your nightmares given physical form in this place.**

"That thing is nasty looking," commented Kichi.

"I noticed," said Naruto, not looking forward to fighting this thing.

The ooze convulsed suddenly spewing some kind of gas directly at him. He had to move fast to get clear of it, to which he countered with a [Shrapnel Kunai], something he wasn't as worried about using in the open space of this room as opposed to the narrow halls where he could have damaged something in there, like his mind.

The damage the ooze suffered from his much improve [Shrapnel Kunai] was significant, thank you Kibaku Fuda Grade 3. The stacking bleed effects he made the thing suffer after having more than a dozen explosive kunai hit it drained its health quickly. Fortunately, the ooze didn't really move, just kind of sat there either vomiting acid all over the place causing him to hide behind a stone wall from his [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu] or simply running like hell to avoid the gas cloud. As boss fights go, this one was rather simple if a bit longer than he was used to.

"That thing was kind of stupid," Kichi stated, as it dissolved into nothingness.

"Yeah, but I'm sure that if we been hit by any of the shit it did, we have been in a world of hurt," said Naruto.

Kichi just shrugged his miniscule shoulders.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

"Hey, you gained a level. And I gained two."

"I know, its awesome right?"

"Sure, I but I'm ready to leave this place, so we can talk to the furball behind the gate now?"

"I suppose," Naruto joked with the little toad.

"**Took you long enough to get here."**

"Yeah, well, my mind is a dangerous place," Naruto retorted.

"**So, what is it my jailor wants from me?"**

Naruto took a moment to study the fox. He was surprise to see a question marks instead of its name and level, but the title 'Kyuubi no Yoko' just underneath the name made him consider that maybe 'Kyuubi' wasn't the foxes name.

"**I'm waiting."**

"So, I need access to your chakra."

"**And why should I help you, eh ningen? You come before me, demanding my chakra as if I owe you something. As if saving your worthless life when you get in over your head wasn't enough."**

"Yeah, well, consider that rent," shouted Naruto. For some reason the damn fox's attitude reminded him of his stingy-ass landlord. "And from now, you'll pay rent for living in my gut."

"**You've got guts, I'll give you that, ningen. But you're going to have to do better than that."**

Naruto frowned. "Well, what do you want then?"

"**Out?"**

"Not happening."

"**Worth a shot. But fine, I want you to come here at least once a month and clean out the sludge and ooze that builds up. You do that, and I'll give you access to my chakra for one month each time. That's my final offer, take or leave it."**

"Take it!" shouted Kichi.

"Like the toad said, I'll take it," said Naruto.

"**Pleasure doing business with you, but be warned, there are consequences to over use of my chakra. You'll build up a . . . corruption and if you ever become fully saturated then I get out. In other words, you die and I live free again."**

Naruto had to think about that for a minute. "So, I'll become corrupted or something and if it ever reaches 100% you get free?"

"**Precisely, so, do we still have a deal?"**

"Yeah, it's a deal." He wasn't sure about the corruption aspect but the risk was worth the benefit.

"**Good, now be gone from my presence, your stench is making my eyes water."**

Naruto blinked in surprise when he found himself back in the training field. "Did that really happen, Kichi?"

"I think so."

**A special skill had been created through a special act.**

**By making a deal with the demon, 'Kyuubi's Cloak' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Kyuubi's Cloak (Active/Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% Corruption: 0.25% per 5 seconds]**

Your deal with the devil is a double edged sword. The Kyuubi's Cloak will grant you immense increases in most stats but the corruption that accompanies that power puts everything and everyone at risk.

Passively increases HP regeneration 0.50% per 5 seconds.

Passively increases CP regeneration 0.25% per 5 seconds.

Additional 100% to STR when Active.

Additional 100% to HP when Active.

Additional 100% to DEX when Active.

Additional 100% to CP when Active.

Additional 100% to DEF when Active.

Additional 100% to SPD when Active.

Additional -50% to WIS when Active.

Regenerate 100% HP when Active.

Regenerate 100% CP when Active.

"So, kid, did it work, you've been quiet for a few minutes now."

"But were gone almost an hour," protested Naruto.

"Gone?" asked Jiraiya.

So Naruto relayed the events that occurred in his mindscape including the deal with Kyuubi.

"Was that okay? I wasn't sure what else I could do."

"No, that's actually more favorable than I could have hoped for," said Jiraiya. "Although I'm suspicious as to why the demon was so cooperative. Still, it worked out. For now, we need to start testing this new skill . . . the [Kyuubi's Cloak] was it?"

"Yeah. I admit I'm a bit nervous about using it."

"Just keep it active for less than 30 minutes and you should be fine."

"Yeah, but how long does it take for the corruption to fade?"

"That's something we're going to test as well. We might be able to craft a seal to deal with the corruption."

"Do you think that would work?"

"It might, won't know until I do some research," said Jiraiya. "Anyway, quit stalling, Cloak, now."

"You might want to stand near Jiraiya for this, Kichi."

"Good idea," said the little toad, leaping from his head and quickly hopping over to Jiraiya.

Naruto took a few deep breaths trying to mentally prepare himself for what was about to happen. He sent the mental command [Kyuubi's Cloak]. It started as a trickle in his gut then like a fire hose turned on full power causing his system to be flooded with the volatile chakra.

"How do you feel, kid?" asked Jiraiya.

"I'm okay, it's a bit weird. I feel like I'm invincible, like no one can touch me."

It was a sudden move, Jiraiya hammered Naruto with a haymaker, planting him into the ground harshly.

Naruto bounced once, letting the cloak go as he felt his ribs give way after the jarring hit. "Ow," gasped Naruto, trying to blink the stars he was seeing away.

"Feel that?"

"Yeah," he gasped out again, trying and failing to block out the pain.

"Still think you're invincible?"

"No," he groaned.

"Activate it again, it should heal you back to full," instructed Jiraiya.

Naruto couldn't nod or he would have, he was in so much pain so he couldn't be sure. Again, mentally he gave the command [Kyuubi's Cloak] and again he felt his system flooded with the tainted chakra, rapidly healing the damage he'd suffered after just one hit from Jiraiya. He was shock how quickly he healed and climbed back to his feet.

"So, what's your corruption at?"

Naruto was surprised to see a corruption bar now accompanied his HP and CP. "Just 4.5% but climbing steadily."

"Okay, when you hit 10% cut it off, and make sure you tell me, I want to start a timer to find out how long it takes for the corruption to fade," said Jiraiya.

It took just under three minutes to hit the 10% marker and Naruto cut it off immediately. "Now."

Jiraiya started stop watch.

"Now what?" asked Kichi.

"Now we relax a little while Naruto lets the corruption fade. We want static results so he can't do anything while he waits. Then we'll do it again and see if there is any difference when he's active after cutting off the Kyuubi's chakra. It will be long, and boring but completely necessary," explained Jiraiya, pulling out a scroll and unsealing a plate of dango to eat.

"Hey, Kichi, why don't you come back over here and we look to see what your levels did for us?" suggested Naruto.

The little toad hopped over and quickly jump up to his head, happily taking his place on top of Naruto's mop of blond hair.

Naruto wordless opened the 'Familiar' menu.

On the skill tree there were now several skills available to choose from.

**Skill Points Available: 2**

**Status Points Available: 65**

"So, it looks like you get 5 status points for every level, you're level 14 now so for the thirteen you gained you've got 65 to spend," Naruto explained to Kichi. "You've also got 2 skill points, I'm guessing that means you can choose two skills from the skill tree."

"Okay, so what should I do?"

"That's the point, what do you want to do?"

"Well, if we're partners then what helps you out most?"

"Either healing or damage dealing."

"Bah, healing, why would I ever want to do that? Sounds like something my stupid brother would like. Give me damage dealing."

"Okay," chuckled Naruto. He would have to try to summon Gamakichi's brother later, if he could get a second familiar already, one the specialized in healing then he'd be in really good shape. "So, in damage dealing you have two choices, melee or range and ninjutsu or bukijutsu."

"I'm kind of small right now so let's keep me far away from any stupid ninja that might think killing me is a good idea. And ninjutsu, definitely."

"Right, so let's see what you've got for skills that fit the bill. We've got a [Suiton: Teppodama no Jutsu] and [Futon: Gamayudan no Jutsu] and a [Katon: Gamayu Endan no Jutsu]."

"The last two are collaboration techniques," supplied Jiraiya helpfully. "Given you don't know any fire jutsu, I'd recommend going with the wind version."

"What do you think, Kichi?" asked Naruto, trying to keep the little guy involved.

"Wind and water it is," he said.

Naruto tapped the two icons accepting when asked if he was sure.

"Cool, I know those now. How do I know those?"

"I told you, it's my ability."

"It's kind of awesome you know," said Kichi.

"Anyway, you have to practice them to get stronger at them but now that you know them you can practice all you want. Now for the stat points. If you're going ninjutsu we want to increase your WIS and INT, and maybe a little VIT to help you stay alive longer. Sound okay?"

"Do it, bro."

Naruto put twenty points in to each stat then put the last few points in to DEX to give Kichi a little more dodge.

**Name: **Gamakichi

**Summoner: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Level: **LV14** Next Level: **54.12%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **700/700

**CP: **450/450

**STR: **12

**VIT: **70

**DEX:** 20

**INT: **45

**WIS: **33

**LUK:** 8

**DEF: **25

**SPD:** 11

With the little toad set up, Naruto let him wander off to train on his own. Naruto was stuck waiting for the corruption to fade. Jiraiya finally clocked it at 1% every ten minutes and after more testing they determined that it didn't matter if he was active regardless of chakra use or if he was just resting, the pace remained.

Thankfully, Jiraiya was satisfied at that point and set Naruto back to training however he pleased, which mostly involved Jiraiya taking Karin's place in assaulting him with sharp pointy objects while he did his best to dodge them with the extra weights equipped. He was just glad that once he finished, he could just stick the weights into his inventory where they weighed nothing at all.

Grinding was grinding and it filled up the rest of his day quite successfully. He finished another two quests for Asuma getting 200000 Exp. Jiraiya even made him spend time using the [Kyuubi's Cloak] until he hit the 95% corruption mark, something he would hopefully be able to sleep off that night.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV30** Next Level: **21.11%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **6400/6400

**CP: **4765/4765

**STR: **106 (35.60) = 141.60

**VIT: **92 (248.00) = 340.00

**DEX: **106 (74.76) = 180.76

**INT: **68 (108.50) = 176.50

**WIS: **65 (51.68) = 116.68

**LUK: ?**

**DEF: **239 (59.75) = 298.75

**SPD: **75 (122.25) = 197.25

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir **(+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of),** Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. ****His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?**

**Point: **16

**Ryo: **454650

**[Beginner Chakra-To (Passive) Lv4 Exp: 16.41.00%]**

Chakra-To blades are used to enhance your close range combat capabilities.

Passively increases chakra-to weapon damage 17%

Passively increases chakra-to weapon critical strike chance 7%

**[Chakra Speed (Active/Passive) Lv42 Exp: 71.12% CP: 10 per 5 seconds]**

Chakra flowing through your body has been focused into your muscles granting a new level of speed and dexterity. Applying a little more chakra can make you even faster but be careful you don't destroy your muscles in the process.

Passively increases DEX 21%

Passively increases SPD 41%

Additional 1% speed per activation.

Additional 100 damage per 5 seconds taken when activated more than 42 times at once.

**[Natural Futon Affinity (Passive) Lv22 Exp: 67.44%]**

The natural ability to manipulate and control wind style ninjutsu.

Passively increases Futon effects 44%

**[Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu (Active/Passive) Lv30 Exp: 79.69% CP 20]**

A weak wind manipulation technique, frequently used to improve control over wind manipulation.

Passively increases Futon control 20%

Passively increases Futon accuracy 20%

**[Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu (Active) Lv11 Exp: 47.74% CP: 100]**

A C-Rank ninjutsu. A relatively simple technique that creates a sudden gust of wind. Inflicts 1-125 Directional Cone Damage. (Damage reduces the further you are from the target)

**[Doton Affinity (Passive) Lv31 Exp: 16.12%]**

The ability to manipulate and control earth style ninjutsu.

Passively increase Doton effects 31%.

**[Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu (Active) Lv55 Exp 1.01% CP: 9 per 5 seconds]**

Manipulate the earth and stone around you to encase yourself in a thin armor of earth providing enhanced defense.

Additional +265 DEF when active.

**[Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu (Active) Lv31 Exp: 14.52% CP: 40]**

A D-Rank ninjutsu. You can now spit a ball of mud at high speed to damage an opponent. Damage and accuracy increases the closer you are to your target. Deals Blunt Damage 78-98.

**[Doton: Kabe no Jutsu (Active) Lv7 31.14% CP: 100 per wall]**

A C-Rank ninjutsu. You can now create a basic wall of earth and stone with 700 HP from ground beneath your feet to protect you from an incoming attack or just hide you from view.

Max number of walls you can create: 3

**[Detect Genjutsu (Passive) Lv47 Exp: 33.32%]**

Genjutsu is made to confuse the senses, knowing when you're caught in one is half the battle to breaking it.

Passively detect genjutsu effects 47%.

**[Dispel Genjutsu (Active) Lv29 Exp: 78.25% CP: 40]**

Genjutsu is made to confuse the senses, knowing when you're caught in on is half the battle to breaking it. Actually breaking it is the other half. By fluxing your chakra you have a chance to disrupt the hold of the foreign chakra invading your system and thus dispelling the genjutsu's effects.

Additional 29% chance to dispel genjutsu when active.

**[Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Active) Lv14 Exp: 54.12% CP: Variable]**

An S-Rank Fuinjutsu. You can now summon the toads of Mount Myoboku to assist in an unlimited number of tasks from fishing to combat. The amount of chakra you apply determines the size and capabilities of the toad summoned.

Gamakichi – 640 CP + 10 CP per 5 seconds to maintain.

?

?

?

?

?

?

**[Kyuubi's Cloak (Active/Passive) Lv3 Exp: 44.89% Corruption: 0.25% per 5 seconds]**

Your deal with the devil is a double edged sword. The Kyuubi's Cloak will grant you immense increases in most stats but the corruption that accompanies that power puts everything at risk.

Passively regenerate 0.55% HP per 5 seconds.

Passively regenerate 0.30% CP per 5 seconds.

Additional 100% to STR when Active.

Additional 100% to HP when Active.

Additional 100% to DEX when Active.

Additional 100% to CP when Active.

Additional 100% to DEF when Active.

Additional 100% to SPD when Active.

Additional -50% to WIS when Active.

Regenerate 100% HP when Active.

Regenerate 100% CP when Active.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

There was something to be said for sleeping in his own bed. For the first time in a week he was able to sleep in his own bed, Karin finally had her own apartment. Next door to him but still, her own. Not his. Hers. And it was wonderful. He loved his cousin like a sister, definitely, but they were both so alike they seemed to constantly get under each other skin and then there were the pranks on each other. It may as well have been war and kami save anyone caught in the crossfire.

Naruto was happy to get up and start his day with a shower and clean clothes. He was even excited to start cooking breakfast, [Rice and Grilled Fish], just for himself. No nitpicking cousin to complain about his cooking.

"Morning," said Karin, walking in to his apartment without even bothering to knock. "What's for breakfast?"

"Um, you have your own place now, don't you? Why aren't you cooking your own breakfast?"

"Meh," she replied, shrugging noncommittally.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, why would I cook when I have a slave living next door that will happily cook for me just so he can gain a little experience for his cooking skill? Plus, Ero-Sennin should be here soon to pick us up for training."

Naruto sighed in defeat. She was right . . . and it made him want to cry.

So, he prepared four servings, knowing that Asuma and the pervert would be showing up before he finished. And just as predicted Jiraiya snuck in through the window, taking a seat without saying anything, the man was massaging his head trying to alleviate some of the obvious hangover he was suffering. Asuma at least knocked before walking in.

Breakfast was eaten in silence, everyone enjoying the meal.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" asked Naruto, pushing his empty bowl away. Training the last week had been intense. In addition to Asuma's regular training quests, Jiraiya started giving them out as well, the result was two additional levels and a shit ton of skill experience.

"So far we've focused on your ninjutsu and summoning training and you've capped your bonus stat points for the time being. Based on your quest, you still need a few more jutsu but also some [Fuinjutsu] skill levels. So today, we're going to burn through those levels, I already picked up an [Advanced Fuinjutsu] skill book for you, you just need to spend the time grinding and I've got a few formula's you might like."

"And again, I'll take a handful of clones and Karin to train," Asuma added.

"Take Kichi too," said Naruto, summoning the tiny toad and forming some clones.

"Yo, what's up bro?"

"Training again, little buddy," answered Naruto, holding out small candy for him.

"Am I going with smoke stack again?" asked Kichi.

"Yeah, Ero-Sennin is going to help me with my [Fuinjutsu]."

"Cool, good luck, bro," said Kichi, the little toad then jumped landing atop one of Naruto's clones.

Once Asuma and Karin were out the door with clones and toad in tow, Naruto looked to Jiraiya. "So what are we really doing?"

Jiraiya grinned. "Caught on did you?"

"Just a guess, but you could have my clones doing this work. So what do you really plan on doing?"

"Alright kid, I'm a spymaster. Do you know what that entails?"

"Gathering intelligence without being caught," said Naruto.

"Partly, I also manage a number of assets outside of Konoha that gather intelligence for me, some do so for revenge, others do it for money, and some do it for the thrill and danger of it. But the point is, knowledge is power," explained Jiraiya.

"So you're going to teach me to spy?"

"Exactly, and who are we going to spy on?"

"My opponents," said Naruto, catching on to what Jiraiya was pushing for.

"Yes, and maybe some other interesting characters, like that Kabuto fellow you raised suspicion on during the exams."

Naruto nodded. "How do we start?"

**Quest Alert: Information is Power**

**Gather Intelligence on your potential opponents for the final round of the exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [?].**

**Gain 50 levels to [?].**

**Gather intelligence on your first opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Gather intelligence on at least three other potential opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

"You can start with this," he said, pulling out a scroll from inside his vest and tossing it lightly to the boy.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Toton Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

"Transparency skill, what's this do?"

"It's a technique I made years ago. In fact, it's the first original jutsu I ever made. This is the perfect spying technique," he boasted, he then ran through a few quick handseals turning completely transparent.

Naruto blinked several times, trying to see him, the only sign Jiraiya was there was the slight distortion of things seen through him. "That is pretty awesome." Naruto hit the button to accept.

**You've obtained the skill 'Toton Jutsu'.**

**[Toton Jutsu (Active) Lv 1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 50 per 5 seconds]**

Jiraiya's original patented transparency technique, developed originally to spy on the many bathhouses in Konoha it was later adapted for combat and information gathering purposes. Makes the user transparent while active.

Additional 99% chance of being detected while Active.

"Wow, I'm going to have to improve that a lot. It says I have a 99% chance of being detected."

The words barely left his mouth when he got an update to his most recent quest.

**Quest Alert: Information is Power**

**Gather Intelligence on your potential opponents for the final round of the exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gain 50 levels to [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gather intelligence on your first opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Gather intelligence on at least three other potential opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

"Let's get to work then," said Jiraiya. "Get a clone working on the [Fuinjutsu] while you start using that new skill, we'll work on it for a few days depending on how quickly you level it up and then we'll put it to use."

Naruto nodded, wordlessly activating the skill. The 50 levels he needed to gain for the quest objective was a lot of levels and it wasn't a very cheap technique either. He was in for a very long week.

It took about 8 minutes to drain Naruto's chakra to less than 500 CP, but that time yield eight levels. Granted, the level gains would slow down drastically soon enough but for now he was going to push himself to get through it as quickly as he could.

"Out of chakra already?" asked Jiraiya.

"Yeah, it'll take a few minutes to fill it back up."

"Use the Kyuubi, just a quick burst to refill your reserves then start over again. And keep repeating, read this while you're at it," Jiraiya handed him a book.

"Spycraft 101," Naruto read the title aloud. "Will this really help?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Maybe, it certainly won't hurt. You might even find a few helpful tips."

"Is there a reason we're not doing this in the training grounds?"

"This is about the time that the other competitors start making efforts to do the same thing we're prepping you to do. By doing this here you do two things. First, while they spy on the clones at the training field, you can train secretly here. Second, this technique will give you a nice sneaky surprise."

"Oh," said Naruto lamely.

"So get back to work," ordered the old man.

It was repetitive work but worth it. Naruto simply sat on his couch reading while transparent only to give himself a burst of Kyuubi's chakra to replenish his supply and then go right back to being transparent.

**[Kyuubi's Cloak]'s level has risen by one.**

**[Kyuubi's Cloak] is now [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail].**

**[Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail (Active/Passive) Lv10 Exp: 0.12% Corruption: 0.25% per 5 seconds]**

Your deal with the devil is a double edged sword. The Kyuubi's Cloak will grant you immense increases in most stats but the corruption that accompanies that power puts everything and everyone at risk.

Passively regenerate 0.90% HP per 5 seconds.

Passively regenerate 0.65% CP per 5 seconds.

Additional 100% to STR when Active.

Additional 100% to HP when Active.

Additional 100% to DEX when Active.

Additional 100% to CP when Active.

Additional 100% to DEF when Active.

Additional 100% to SPD when Active.

Additional -50% to WIS when Active.

Regenerate 100% HP when Active.

Regenerate 100% CP when Active.

Bonus per Tail:

Additional 50% to STR when Active.

Additional 50% to HP when Active.

Additional 50% to DEX when Active.

Additional 50% to CP when Active.

Additional 50% to DEF when Active.

Additional 50% to SPD when Active.

Additional 0.25% Corruption per 5 seconds**.**

"What the fuck?" Naruto said when the message appeared.

"What did you do now brat?" asked Jiraiya.

"The [Kyuubi's Cloak] evolved. It's now [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail]. What the fuck does that mean?"

"More of Kyuubi's chakra probably, a bigger boost to your stats and probably a faster rate of corruption too."

"That's what it says but can I choose how many tails? What if I just want the normal cloak, will I get the one tail no matter what?"

"Why don't you try it and find out?"

So he did. He activated the cloak by itself then mentally ordered [One-Tail] causing a tail made of chakra to bubble out of his lower back taking on a messy bubbly form but still recognizable as a tail. He did find out he had to back down, first deactivating the [One-Tail] then the cloak, which had a bit of a delay between each.

"So?"

"I can control how much I activate but it's slow, both to add the tail and to remove the tail."

"You can probably improve that with more practice," said Jiraiya, scribbling some seals and handing them to a clone to copy and learn.

Naruto frowned a bit, that was yet another thing he'd have to work on with his remaining three weeks until the exams. Granted, that sounded like a lot of time given how much he'd already learned but he still needed to improve on what he had learned or it would do him no good at all.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

It took three days for Naruto to hit the level 50 mark on the [Toton Jutsu] but by the time he did so it was already late at night. Jiraiya decided he could wait until morning to start spying which resulted in him gaining three more levels to the skill.

So once more, he made breakfast for his trainers and cousin then sent the cousin and one trainer to the training field with a bunch of clones while he stayed behind with Jiraiya.

"Okay kid, let's get started," said Jiraiya.

"How do we start?"

Jiraiya gave him a flat look. "Really?"

Naruto laughed nervously. "Just kidding, just kidding. First I need to find Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei."

"Good, and how do you do that?"

"I need to ask around places both of them visit frequently."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Under [Henge], changing my appearance with each person I ask."

"Good, now go to it," said Jiraiya. "Your clone and I will keeping going on your [Fuinjutsu]."

"But I already got the tenth level with it, why continue?"

"Are you saying you couldn't use more than ten levels to what has proven to be an extremely valuable skill?" asked Jiraiya.

"I suppose not," answered Naruto sheepishly.

"Good, now again, go," this time the man pointed toward the front door.

Naruto did a quick [Henge] making himself look like one of the other building residents before leaving the apartment so that no one would see him leave, or rather pay attention to him leaving.

Once he was about six blocks from his apartment he ducked into an alley and changed his [Henge] and coming out the other end of the alley with a new appearance.

He did this at least three more times before he went to a tea shop that Kakashi frequented. He went in under the guise of a pregnant woman with a pretty face, taking features from several of the women of the village he'd seen that morning.

"Ah, excuse me," Naruto said, using a soft feminine voice that fit the image he created.

"Ah, young miss, how can I assist you?" asked one of the waitresses.

"I'm looking for someone, I was told he frequents this shop."

"Oh, and who is that?"

"Do you know a Kakashi-kun?"

"Hatake-san is a frequent customer, what do you need him for?"

Naruto rubbed his false pregnant belly. "I need to talk to him about something."

"Oh . . . OH! I see," said the waitress. "Unfortunately, I haven't seen him in almost a week. And the last time I did, I saw him with one of his students walking toward the Hokage monument with some camping gear."

"I see, I suppose I shall have to wait until he comes back. Thank you for your time," said Naruto, walking out. Sure, Naruto probably could have done a dozen different things to get the same information, and maybe damaging his reputation a little with the gossip that was sure to spread like wildfire as a result of that was a bit vindictive but it sure did make Naruto feel better.

A few more alley shortcuts and new appearances and Naruto made his way toward the monument and the mountainous area behind them. The area was a popular camp ground with the civilians of the village but sometimes shinobi would go up there to train just for the rocky terrain, apparently old hatreds toward Iwagakure ran deep.

Naruto had to ask at a few civilian camp sights before he got his first solid.

"Che, can you believe those shinobi nuts?" howled a man who'd clearly had a bit too much to drink.

"Oh, come on, dad, it was awesome. They were climbing a rock face with an arm tied behind their back," protested his son.

"What do you think they are doing up there?" asked Naruto, this time under the guise of another civilian out hiking and just being friendly.

"Bah, hell if I know," replied the father.

"I bet they are training for the Chuunin Exam Finals. I've been begging dad to take me but he says it's a waste of time and money, especially since his shop gets a bunch of extra business during the exam."

"And it's true," the father protested. "Anyway, I don't know what they are up to. The boy forced me to hike closer but we couldn't find a path up to their campsite. We did hear what sounding like birds chirping, lots of birds."

"Can you point me which way? I'd prefer to make sure I don't go that direction," said Naruto, adjusting the fake hiking pack.

"That plateau over there seems to be their spot," the father answered pointing to the west of their currently location.

"Thanks a lot. Anyway, I should get going, it's a long hike back into the village," said Naruto, standing a stretching a bit. He'd been talking to the pair for a while now. Once Naruto was back into the forest he'd heard the pair talking again.

"Do you think he was one of the competitors come to spy on Kakashi-san?"

"Nah, just a civilian hiking. No genin is going to have a henge that can fool me," replied the kid.

Naruto just shook his head in bemusement, apparently he'd just fooled two of Kakashi's guards. Or were they there to guard Sasuke. Either way it was very amusing.

The trip around that campsite took a bit of time, especially since he was trying to keep hidden from view. Eventually he reached the rock face leading up to the plateau, there were signs that someone had been climbing it recently. He looked around a bit for a stealthier way up but there wasn't one to be seen. As such, Naruto activated his [Toton Jutsu] then scaled the wall, following the path that either Kakashi or Sasuke had used.

Up top, he found Sasuke and Kakashi just finishing up lunch. "Ready to try again?" asked Kakashi.

"Hn."

"Use your words," ordered Kakashi, the tone in his voice making it seem like the man had already said it a thousand times.

"Yes, sensei."

Kakashi just rolled his eyes. "Okay, there is the wall, let's see if you can pierce deeper than yesterday, eh?"

Naruto looked at the wall Kakashi was talking about. There were a few hand sized holes scattered on it, some of them seemed go quite deep but the majority of them looked like they barely broke the surface. Then he looked back at Sasuke, he wanted to see what kind of progress he'd made.

**Name: **Uchiha Sasuke

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV30** Next Level: **98.14%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **950/950

**CP: **2620/2620

**STR: **55

**VIT: **95

**DEX: **277

**INT:** 262

**WIS: **187

**LUK: **1

**DEF: ** 75

**SPD: **208

**Status: Double Tomoe Sharingan **(+7 DEX &amp; +8 INT &amp; +5 WIS per Level),** Avenger** (+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi), **Firebug** (-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10% damage to katon jutsu)

**Uchiha Sasuke is the last loyal surviving member of the infamous Uchiha clan. Well known for their doujutsu the Sharingan which has allowed them to excel as shinobi in the field. His past is clouded by the pain and misery of losing his family so much that vengeance is all that remains to him.**

Sasuke blurred through few seals before wrapping his left hand around his right wrist and pumping chakra through it into his open hand. It was slow at first but there was a spark of electricity dancing across the palm followed by another then two, it continued to grow until his hand was sparking like mad, emitting a sound like birds chirping. Sasuke then blitzed at the wall, finally driving his hand into it, piercing just past his wrist.

"That's much improved, Sasuke. But you're still not fast enough and it's still takes way too long for you to form the Chidori and even when you did, you got impatient and charged ahead before it was fully formed. Now, let's try it one more time then we can work on your taijutsu again."

"What's the point? The dobe doesn't stand a chance as it is."

"This isn't about your fight with Naruto. This is about preparing for Gaara and that's assuming you even make it past Naruto. And let me say this one more time, just to make absolutely certain you understand me. The Chidori, is not under any circumstance to be used again Naruto or anyone else from Konoha, it is an assassination technique. Am I clear?"

"Yes, stop harping on it already. I heard you the first time and the second time and every time after that."

"And yet, I don't believe you're listening to me at all," said Kakashi. "So let me try another tactic. If you use this in your fight with Naruto, I will rip off your arm and beat you to death with it in front of the entire stadium audience. Is that clear enough?"

Sasuke actually paled at the threat, the killing intent from Kakashi making it very clear the man was completely serious. "I got it, I promise."

"Now I believe you. So, let's try again so we can get to taijutsu practice while your chakra recovers," ordered Kakashi.

Naruto sat very still at the edge of the clearing while the pair trained. Kakashi's threat on his behalf actually made him feel a little bit guilty about the 'pregnant girl looking for him' trick he'd pulled but that only lasted until he saw the taijutsu he was teaching Sasuke.

After Sasuke attempted yet another Chidori, Kakashi put the boy through his paces, teaching a taijutsu that mirrored Lee's almost perfectly even if Sasuke wasn't as strong as Lee and a fair bit slower than Lee. After about an hour watching the pair, Naruto's quest alert popped up letting him know he fulfilled the objective giving him leave to withdraw from this particular spying assignment.

It didn't take long after that for Naruto to return to the village and seek out his next target, Gaara. It actually wasn't hard given that he knew where Gaara was staying in the village. So Naruto camped out on the roof across from the building and waited. Maintaining the [Toton Jutsu] for so long while he continued surveillance was very difficult, fortunately, he had learned in the past three days that he was quite capable of using other jutsu while the [Toton Jutsu] was active, as such [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] had gotten a fairly significant workout.

Naruto kept watch on the building but Gaara never left or was just never there in the first place. One thing he didn't expect to see was Kabuto enter the building fairly late at night. Almost immediately after Kabuto entered the building, Gaara exited the door to the roof where he perched on top of the ledge, not really doing anything, just staring out at the village.

It left him with a conundrum, keep watching Gaara in the hope he might do something or try and find out what Kabuto was up to. Kabuto won.

With as much stealth and control as he could muster he made his way to the building, using his recently upgraded goggles to tell him where the chakra sources were.

**[Mini-map with Chakra Sensor Display to Face] – **Add a mini-map display to ocular protection. Creates a visual map to track your location and terrain surrounding you as well as any chakra sources nearby.

He found that there were only four signatures in the building, all of them on the third floor. Naruto spotted Kabuto and Baki walking out onto the third floor balcony, speaking in hushed tones, so he hid himself by attaching to the balcony ceiling just below them.

". . . plans?" asked Kabuto.

"No, Kazekage-sama does not doubt the plan. He just worries . . . _that_ man does not have a very trustworthy reputation."

"_He_ would not jeopardize this, it is far too important to him. And is Gaara ready? Does he understand his part in this?"

"He'll be ready," said Baki firmly, only a slight quaver in his voice as he said it.

"For all of our sakes, he'd better be," said Kabuto. "Does he understand that the Uchiha is not to be permanently harmed? If there is any permanent damage _he_ will not be pleased."

"Things happen in a fight. He'll do his best but what makes you think the Uchiha can beat the Uzumaki?"

"Naruto-kun is a joke. He's absolutely pathetic as a shinobi. He was dead last in his graduating class this year. From what I've been able to gather on him, he was most likely carried through the exam by his teammates."

"He seemed to have enough talent to beat that Hyuuga girl in a taijutsu fight."

"The failed heiress, that was no major victory and as for Kin, well, she was always meant to be a sacrifice anyway."

"I see," said Baki, but his voice betrayed doubt.

"It's far too late to back out now, Baki-san. Put away your doubts. Now tell me, what are you going to do about our little spy problem?"

For a moment the blood in Naruto's veins froze, he'd been caught. But the sudden movement from below him drew his attention to a Konoha jounin making a rapid retreat. It was Hayate, the proctor from the preliminaries.

"I'll deal with him, you'd better get out of here before someone else sees you."

Kabuto went back into the room while Baki chased after Hayate.

Once again, Naruto had to make a choice, keep following Kabuto and maybe find out who was pulling his strings or give aid to Hayate. If it wasn't for Kakashi's words ringing through his head he may have gone after Kabuto, after all, those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash.

So Naruto followed Baki at a distance, the jounin was way too powerful for Naruto to confront but if he saw an opening he'd take it.

Baki caught up with Hayate fairly quickly, forcing the retreating jounin into a fight.

Hayate drew a sword immediately to defend himself and fight back with while Baki used a combination of taijutsu and ninjutsu to attack. It was so fast, Naruto had trouble following it. He even barely avoided getting an arm cut off by one of Baki's wind blades, a technique Naruto wanted very much to learn and as such tried to memorize what Baki was doing to create it. Unfortunately, it was over much too fast for Naruto to assist in anyway.

Baki had caught Hayate's sword after it bit into the man's shoulder but not deep enough to kill or cripple him. Baki then had Hayate trapped, it was no surprise then when Baki used a close range wind blade to slice through Hayate's stomach and chest. Naruto saw the man's HP drop rapidly into a flashing red state that continued to drop.

"You were skilled, but not skilled enough," Baki praised him briefly before vanishing without a trace, leaving Hayate to bleed out.

Naruto though was already scrambling across the roof, pulling out his entire stack of Shosen Fuda Grade 3. "Just hold on Hayate-sensei," pleaded Naruto, rapidly stick on tags and charging a little chakra into them to activate them. It was intense, the rate Hayate was losing HP worried Naruto a great deal but his fuda was keeping pace, finally gaining a little ground even.

Hayate was in and out of consciousness, occasionally calling for "Yugao" whoever that was.

Naruto wasn't paying much attention, he was burning through tags too fast to care what the man was saying. Hayate would be able to say as much as he wanted if he survived.

When he was down to just five fuda the bleed effect on Hayate finally faded, he'd stabilized. Naruto used the last five anyway just to stabilize him a bit more so they could make the trip to the hospital so they could do the rest.

He formed a dozen clones, instructing six of them to pick up Hayate and carry him while the other six formed a perimeter with him leading the way to the hospital. Thankfully the trip was completely uninterrupted.

"I have an emergency here," shouted Naruto as he and his clones burst into the hospital.

"What the hell happened?" asked one of the nurses, rushing toward him with a cart.

"He was attacked. I stopped the bleeding but he's still badly hurt," explained Naruto quickly. "You need to have him guarded at all times."

Several ANBU appeared a moment later, one of them a women with long purple hair that was quickly at Hayate's side, gripping his hand tightly. He looked at her to see only 'Neko Lv?' just as with all of the other ANBU.

"Come with us," said Bear, motioning for Naruto to follow.

Naruto nodded and followed. Resisting or causing scene would not be good for his health. They ended up on a secure floor of the hospital that had guards everywhere he looked. The guards all wore masks and every one of them had a question mark for their level. It was very disturbing to see so much power in one place.

"Sit," ordered Bear, pointing to a chair outside the room Hayate had just been wheeled into.

"What happens now?" asked Naruto, not receiving any response.

Jiraiya arrived a few minutes after he was told to sit. "Kid, what the hell did you stumble into?"

Naruto gave Jiraiya a quick rundown of everything that occurred, sparing no deal and trying not to embellish anything.

"Damn kid, you've either got the worst luck I've seen or the best luck. I can't decide which," said Jiraiya, rubbing his chin contemplating just that.

"So what happens now?" asked Naruto.

"We tell the Hokage what you found out. You'll tell no one that Hayate lived."

"Won't the lack of dead body be dead giveaway?"

"ANBU is already faking a scene," he replied quickly.

"Oh, I see."

Naruto and Jiraiya were both distracted when the hospital room opened again and several doctors emerged, most of them looking quite happy.

"He lived then?" asked Naruto, springing up from his seat.

"Thanks to you," said one of the doctors. "Those healing seals you used saved his life, kept him alive long enough to get here at the very least. Well done."

Naruto blushed at the praise. "I was just in the right place at the right time."

"You were," said Neko, coming out of the room last. The woman leaned down to look him in the eyes.

He felt a bit uncomfortable that the masked woman was just staring at him. Finally he couldn't not talk. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

He was answered when Neko tilted her mask up to the top of her head revealing both her face and a name 'Uzuki Yugao Lv?'. He was entranced when he saw her face, she was beautiful and her eyes showed such amazing gratitude, it was overwhelming. He couldn't help blushing bright red. He was even more shocked when the woman put a hand on either side of his face and kissed him. Really, really kissed him.

"Wha . . . what was that for?" he asked dumbly when the kiss ended.

"You saved a man I love more than life itself. That was my way of saying thank you in a way that made absolutely certain that you understand just how grateful I am," Yugao explained, then she stood straight again, slid the mask back down over her face hiding it from view as well as her name going back to 'Neko Lv?'. Without another word she went back into the hospital room.

"Wow," said Naruto, understanding her statement and appreciating that kiss in a single word.

"You lucky little bastard," groused Jiraiya.

Naruto chuckled and blushed after Jiraiya's comment.

"Come on brat, let's go, you've got a report to give to the old man. And the sooner that's done, the soon we can get back to your apartment. I just can't wait to tell Asuma and Karin about this," he laughed.

"What? No, don't do that Ero-Sennin, I'll never hear the end of it from Karin."

"Oh, and what are you going to give me to keep quiet about it?" taunted Jiraiya, laughing the whole way.

"I'm your godson, you owe me," shouted Naruto.

"It's because you're my godson I should be spreading this all over Konoha. You should be proud, it's not every day you get your first kiss from a hotty like that."

"Damn you, Ero-Sennin," shouted Naruto, just getting more laughter from the pervert.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV32** Next Level: **77.51%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **6663/6663

**CP: **5021/5021

**STR: **114 (36.40) = 150.40

**VIT: **97 (249.25) = 346.25

**DEX: **114 (86.42) = 200.42

**INT: **73 (109.13) = 182.13

**WIS: **71 (62.13) = 133.13

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **239 (59.75) = 298.75

**SPD: **79 (128.63) = 207.63

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir **(+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader **(+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of), **Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. ****His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?**

**Point: **26

**Ryo: **454650

**Other stats update in Naruto: The Gamer Files Stats**


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

"And that's what I heard," finished Naruto, sitting across from the old man.

"Well done, Naruto-kun, very, very well done," praised Sarutobi. "So, it seems Kabuto is definitely a spy. But for who?"

"So, he was just in the exam to spy on the competitors. But why was he so focused on Sasuke? Like Orochimaru? Could he work for Orochimaru?"

"It's a logical conclusion, we don't have any proof though. The only thing we know for certain is that he was sent into the chuunin exams to gather information and that his primary target was Uchiha Sasuke."

**Hidden Quest Objective Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp**

**Hidden Quest Alert: The Mystery of Kabuto**

**Uncover the many secrets surrounding Yakushi Kabuto.**

**Hidden Objectives:**

**Draw the attention of the Proctor's to Yakushi's activities.**

**Discover Kabuto's intention for entering the Chuunin Selection Exam**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 10000000 Exp**

**Title: Tantei**

**100000 Exp per Hidden Objective.**

Naruto would have cheered for the completed quest objective but based on the mood in the room it would not have been appropriate or appreciated.

"For now, go on home," ordered Sarutobi.

"Be sneaky about it," ordered Jiraiya.

"How's he doing?" asked Sarutobi, as Naruto was leaving.

Naruto wasn't able to hear more as the door closed behind him. The journey home was quiet with plenty of doubling back and image changes even a bit of transparent sneaking. Transparent sneaking that just happened to come across Chouji and Shikamaru enjoying a meal.

"So how is training with your dad going?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto knew then he should probably make himself known or even just walk away but this was an opportunity to learn about Chouji's training.

"It's good, my size shifting is a lot faster and my dad's even taught me a few doton techniques," he answered.

"Anything good?"

"That same armor technique Naruto knows. He also taught me a tremor skill to disturb opponents balance called [Furue no jutsu]. It's really cool, I stomp the ground to knock someone off balance then nail them with a giant fist. It's actually a lot fun. I've been practicing on the boars in training field 12."

"Nice."

**Quest Alert: Information is Power**

**Gather Intelligence on your potential opponents for the final round of the exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gain 50 levels to [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gather intelligence on your first opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Gather intelligence on at least three other potential opponents of the third round without being caught. (1/3)**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

"What have you been up to?"

"Well, at first my mom was pissed because I quit during the prelims but then she wasn't so mad when she found out about Gaara. That dude is a scary mother fucker," groused Shikamaru. "Since then, between her and my dad I've barely had a moment of rest."

"That sucks, as scary as Gaara is, I think I'd rather face him than your mother," joked Chouji.

"My mom might nag a lot but at least she won't kill me, at least I don't think she will."

Chouji chuckled. "True."

Naruto had to fight hard not to laugh at the joke, deciding that now would be a good time for him to leave.

The rest of the walk home passed without issue or running across any of his friends or potential opponents. Still, it was a nice evening to be out walking.

Entering his apartment he found Karin waiting at the kitchen table.

"Finally you're home, where the hell were you? I'm starving here."

"You could've made yourself something at your apartment."

"Yeah, but that takes effort and I'm tired from training today."

"Your excuses are getting old, Karin. You need to start taking care of yourself. What's going to happen when I leave the village for a mission?"

"It's not about not being able to take care of myself," she protested.

"Then prove it," said Naruto, going to his cabinet and fishing out a dozed instant ramen then filling a kettle with water and setting it on the stove to boil.

"I don't eat that much ramen," protested Karin.

"This is for me, you're on your own." He was tired of Karin mooching off of him, for the most part, he normally didn't care but for some reason tonight she just pushed too hard this time.

"That's so rude," she almost yelled at him.

"Speak for yourself. I've been nothing but generous to you and this is how you treat me?"

Karin fumed silently for minute. "Fine, I guess I have been taking a bit of . . . advantage of your kindness but I'm not used to it. People have never done anything for me before. I'm just waiting for you become just like them."

"Did you ever think that maybe by taking advantage of me, it would cause me to treat you like them? Not that I would but . . . well . . . anyway. Stop taking advantage of me, we're family and should act like it. So I'll make a deal with you. I'll make breakfast everyday as long as I'm home, but you're responsible for dinner and we're on our own for lunch. Deal?"

Karin frowned as she thought over what Naruto said. She'd never been able to take advantage of anyone before, it was always her that was taken advantage of. Which she hated so why wouldn't Naruto hate it that she was taking advantage of him? "I'm sorry, Naruto-nisan. I didn't like when Kusa took advantage of me, I should never have done the same to you. So, I'm just going to accept your deal and say thank you."

"Alright, so for tonight would you like to have some instant ramen?"

"Sure, I'll make sure I go grocery shopping tomorrow."

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

"So, who have you got left?" asked Jiraiya after Asuma, Karin and clones were out the door.

"I still need to get some information on Gaara. Other than that, I was able to scout Chouji on the way back from the old man's office. I'd like to get some information on Neji while I'm at it."

"Who else?"

"Lee, Kiba, Shino and Kankuro," answered Naruto.

"Okay, so Lee should be very easy to scout. He'll be with Gai on training field four. Neji will be much harder to get to, his Byakugan will see right through your [Toton Jutsu], the Aburame and Inuzuka probably too. Your best bet for them is to get the information from their friends and associates. People they might have trained with. Kankuro and Gaara will take some work, the Suna delegation, or at least the ones that made it to this round have stayed in their hotel, not leaving once."

"So, I need to get inside," said Naruto.

"Maybe, but maybe you can talk to some of the visitors from Suna who have come to watch the finals, you'd be surprised how much information you can garner that way."

"This isn't going to be easy is it?"

"Nope, but most worthwhile things aren't easy. Now get out of here," ordered Jiraiya.

Naruto groaned and snuck out of his building, he needed information and he knew the best chances were with Tenten for detail on Neji and maybe even a little on Lee.

Naruto entered Higurashi's and felt his Henge instantly stripped away much to his surprise. "What the hell?"

"Anti-henge seals," answered Tenten from behind the counter. "You'd be amazed how many academy students sneak in here looking to by shit they have no business buying. So, why were out like that?"

Naruto frowned, he wasn't happy to have his disguise broken so easily but now that he was here he'd just have to make the best of it. "I actually came to see you, but I didn't want anyone to know."

"Oh, and what is it you want to see me about? You're not here to confess your undying love something stupid like that are you?"

"Negative," said Naruto bluntly. "I actually was hoping to get some information from you."

"Oh, and what information is you wanted from little ole me?"

"Neji and Lee, they are both in the finals and there is a chance I might have to fight one of them in the finals. I want to get some information about what they've been training in."

"You expect me to betray my teammates?" asked Tenten flatly.

"Not betray them, gather intelligence for them. Call it an information exchange. I've already got some valuable intelligence they might be interested in."

"Sorry, not interested. Now if that is all, you can go," she pointed bluntly at the door, glaring at him.

"Well, that didn't work," groused Naruto. "Oh well, is your dad here?"

Tenten kept her glare but yelled for him anyway. "Dad, Uzumaki is here."

As soon as Hiten came out, Tenten retreated to the back room.

"What did you do to piss her off?"

"I was trying to get some usable intelligence on Neji and Lee. I wasn't expecting my henge to get stripped away so suddenly when I walked in. Had to think on my feet and flopped."

"Moron," said Hiten. "You should have talked to me."

"You? But . . . why you?"

"Tenten is a good girl, she works hard and all that but she has a crush on that Hyuuga boy and frankly, that kid scares me. He's always fate this and fate that. He's needs to get stomped hard and if I can do anything to facilitate that then I'll be happy to. As for Lee, you're on your own for that one. Lee's a good kid, weird as hell but a good kid."

"Sweet, so what can you tell me about Neji?"

"Not so fast kid. We still haven't talked price."

"Price, you're going to make me pay you for information?"

"Information isn't free. There is no guarantee you'll even fight Neji, why should I give away something so valuable."

"So what do you want?" asked Naruto.

"What have you got?"

"A little over 400k in Ryo," he answered.

"Keep your money kid, I said what have you got? I know you've been hunting those chakra mutations for a long time now, you've even brought some of the stuff you've gotten in here, never picked up what I made for you but that's your loss."

"What do mean my loss?"

"You didn't come get them, I sold them, you get thirty days to pick up any custom orders, after that I sell them to get my money back. So, that's a start to paying me since I did make a little profit from them, let's see what else you've got?"

Naruto wasn't happy about the lost items but he was perfectly happy to get rid of the crafting materials he couldn't use rather than use his money. None of the stuff that Hiten said he could make ever really interested Naruto anyway, he probably would have ended up selling it. And for Naruto to use any of the materials himself, he'd have to get rid of his [Fuinjutsu] skill to get a skill that could do. So opening his inventory, he pulled out the spider silk and then he put half the chitin from the crabs in wave on the floor as it simply wouldn't fit on the counter. He still needed to get Sakura to take her half of the chitin.

"Holy hell! That is a lot a chitin kid, where did you get it all?"

"When we were in Nami a while back, Sakura-chan and I found a sea cave filled with the things. We farmed that thing for over a month."

"Okay, I'll take everything but 40 of the chitin," said Hiten.

"Isn't that a lot?"

"Isn't the information valuable?"

"Deal," answered Naruto quickly. "I can always get all that stuff again anyway."

"If you do, I'll buy any you don't plan on using. Speaking of, I will buy the last of that chitin from you for a 1000 ryo apiece."

"What can you even do with it?"

"It's an armor reinforcer. I can add it to any piece of equipment in this shop and increase its defensive value without adding any extra weight," explained Hiten.

"How many pieces would it take to reinforce all of my gear?"

"Coat, pants, forearms and shin, about twenty pieces. Tell you what, I'll trade you one for one. I'll apply the twenty pieces to your gear for the remaining twenty chitin. Deal?"

"Deal," said Naruto again.

"Okay, so leave your gear with me and I'll have it ready in a week."

"Um, I don't have any other clothes with me," said Naruto cautiously earning a full bellied laugh from Hiten.

The man went into the store and pulled a simple long sleeve shirt and black pants, tossing both to Naruto.

"Those will cost you 5000 ryo, it's as cheap as I can do."

Naruto paid the man. "Do you have a changing room?"

He pointed to the corner where the bathroom was giving Naruto a look that spoke volumes.

"Right, be right back," the boy rushed in and changed. When he came back out he set his gear on the counter. "It feels weird not to have all my stuff on me."

"You'll get over it," said Hiten. "Now, as to my information."

"I'm all ears," said Naruto, leaning in close."

"So, from what Tenten has told me about Neji, he's really good. Apparently, the kid even reverse engineered some of the main branch's best techniques, something called Kaiten and Hakke something or other. I'm sure you can ask around for more information on those but from her tone it's a really big deal."

"No, that's great information," said Naruto. "I can use that. I've seen him fight once already, I even saw that Kaiten but I can ask about the other technique."

**Quest Alert: Information is Power**

**Gather Intelligence on your potential opponents for the final round of the exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gain 50 levels to [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gather intelligence on your first opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Gather intelligence on at least three other potential opponents of the third round without being caught. (2/3)**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

"Okay, then I'll see you in a week to pick up your gear."

"Roger that, see you then," said Naruto, walking out of the shop with a little bounce in his step.

He was quick to duck into the closest alley and change his appearance again. His next stop was Lee and training field four.

Naruto heard the rhythmic thumps of Lee's punches and kick before got to close and the instant he did hear it he turned himself transparent. Sneaking into the field was easy, gaining anything worthwhile was not. He sat there for hours watching Lee beat on a training log.

"Yosha!' shouted Gai as he arrived.

"Gai-sensei," shouted Lee, rushing to his sensei's side.

Naruto witnessed something after that would once more haunt his nightmares, something he truly wished he could un-see. If he wasn't trying to hide he would be screaming in pain as he attempted claw his own eyes out.

"Lee, my most youthful student. Have you finished your five thousand punches and kicks?"

"Yes, Gai-sensei."

"Yosha, you truly burn with the flames of youth! I am so proud of you, my wonderful student!"

"Thank you, Gai-sensei! What will be working on today?"

"I will give you the choice, shall we push your flames of youth and unleash the next youthful gate or more extremely conditioning?"

"Can I recover in time for the finals if we open the next gate?"

"Hmm, it is youthful to be cautious and not allow your springtime flames burn without restraint. But I feel that if you can accomplish the next gate today, you should be recovered in time for the finals."

"Hmm, what youthful activity would you have us do for extreme conditioning?" asked Lee.

Naruto didn't understand what they meant by gates but he figured it had something to do with taijutsu.

"Yosha, we can stoke flames of youth with a hundred laps around the village on our hands and if we cannot do that we shall do ten thousand handstand push-ups and if we cannot do that we shall do twenty thousand squat thrusts!" shouted Gai, way too excited for what sounded like hell.

Lee screamed in excitement. "Sensei, let us push our flames of youth and grow strong enough to remain in the eternal spring time of youth!"

Naruto wasn't exactly sure what Lee just said but based on the boy going into a handstand and running out of the clearing followed by a tearful Gai he figured they were going with conditioning. It didn't answer Naruto's question about the gates but he could definitely get that answer from Jiraiya.

**Quest Alert: Information is Power**

**Gather Intelligence on your potential opponents for the final round of the exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gain 50 levels to [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gather intelligence on your first opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Gather intelligence on at least three other potential opponents of the third round without being caught. (3/3)**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

Naruto was surprised to see that counted for his information gathering requirements but the quest didn't give him a completion award. So either it wouldn't end until the final actually started or it was broken . . . so he had more time to explore the quest, maybe find the bonus objectives.

With that Naruto left behind the training field, he still needed information on Kiba and Shino but they would sense him coming so he'd have to think more on how to get intelligence on them but for now, he was sure he could find some merchants from Suna.

Once again, Naruto was working his way through the village, changing images at random as he weaved his way using the various alleyways and side streets.

"Afternoon," Naruto greeted one of the shopkeepers near the Suna team's hotel.

"Afternoon, can I get you something?"

"Just curious, have you seen much of them?" he asked motioning to the hotel.

"No, it's just weird, none of them ever leave that hotel. You'd think they would spend time training or shopping."

"What about the Suna merchants, aren't they staying in the same place?"

"Another oddity, I tell you, my friend Sabumachu, runs a hotel on the other side of the village, he said every Suna merchant seems to be staying there. The story he told me was the Suna merchants were terrified of being too close to the 'demon' if you believe such a thing."

"Huh, that is odd. Well, thank you for the information," he left a small tip for the merchant, thanking him for the information.

So, it was back to the other end of the village in search of the Suna merchants, they obviously knew something. It didn't take long to find the merchants, all of them drinking and talking big about the upcoming tournament. He didn't really have to ask any of them anything, they were all talking about it openly. They commiserated the failed assassination attempts, talked about his sand and the demon in him. The also celebrated all the money they were going to make gambling on the untouchable 'demon' with a sand skin so hard no one has ever even scratch him.

Getting information on Kankuro, the demon's brother was a bit more difficult and ended up costing him a good chuck of ryo buying them drinks to loosen their lips. Still, they didn't know much but that he was highly praised for his Kugutsu and that he could apparently control up to three puppets at once already. Naruto also learned that it was a pretty big deal for him to be able to control that many at once.

He also heard a lot of grumblings about how difficult it was to get passes from the Kazekage to attend, how there were barely an eighth of the number of passes given out for the last Chuunin Exam in Konoha from a couple years ago. Information that just added to the suspicion of the meeting from the night before that he had overheard.

"So, how did it go?" asked Jiraiya, when Naruto entered his apartment.

"Good," said Naruto, he then spent time elaborating what he knew.

"That fucking moron Gai," complained Jiraiya loudly. "What the hell is that man thinking teaching a genin how to open the celestial gates?"

"What are the celestial gates?"

"Every person with chakra has eight chakra centers in the body known as the celestial gates. With training, a person can learn to open those gates."

"What happens when they open those gates?"

"Just one gate, can double a taijutsu specialists speed, strength, and dexterity. Open all eight at once and for about thirty seconds you'll be god on earth, and not long after that, you'll be dead. Most people can't handle opening even one celestial gate, from the sound of what you overheard, Lee can open several gates. It makes him a very dangerous opponent."

"So how do I fight him?"

"That's what you need to figure out," said Jiraiya. "I can give you the skills and coach you up a bit but when the fight starts, you need to know what you're going to do. And you're assuming Lee will still be in the fight at that point. Look at the other side of bracket, Hyuuga Neji will face Aburame Shino, Neji will probably win that fight. Lee against Kankuro, Lee will stomp a hole in Kankuro big enough for an Akimichi to walk through. That pits Lee against Neji, if Lee uses the gates to fight Neji, he should win but when the fight ends so does Lee's. He won't be able to fight for a weeks after that, and that's assuming he doesn't shatter any bones from his own muscles crushing them to powder while under the influence.

"Then there is your bracket. Chouji will fight Kiba a fight that could go either way, at least until you get more intelligence on Kiba and anything he might have learned this month. Then there is you and Uchiha and you'd better stomp a mud hole in that little shit followed by Gaara. You know what you're up against with Gaara, I've done everything I can to prepare you for him but you still have to fight him and you have to win or it could mean some really bad things."

"Okay, I need some help with the intelligence on Kiba and Shino still but the rest I'll start trying to figure out a strategy," said Naruto.

"You have friends don't you? Have you thought about enlisting any of them?"

Naruto blinked owlishly, he hadn't even considered it. He knew if he asked Shikamaru for help, he probably would but whatever intelligence he gathered he would also share with Chouji. Sakura could possibly help too, if she pressed Ino for information, even gossip, then it may add some value to his spy work.

"So, get back out there, but before you do, learn that [Uzumaki Fuinjutsu] skill book. Your clone has been bored out of its mind since it hit max level or level max or whatever the fuck you call it."

Naruto didn't hesitate to open his inventory and pull out the book.

**You've obtained the skill book [Uzumaki Beginner Fuinjutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the accept button right away.

**You've improved your [Fuinjutsu] skill to [Uzumaki Fuinjutsu]**

**[Uzumaki Fuinjutsu (Active) Lv60 Exp 0.00% CP: 20]**

A professional skill allowing you to create seals that can be used to improve your gear, make explosives or just seal stuff away for later. Uzumaki seals are the stuff of legend. The creativity and ingenuity they put in every seal is the envy to seal masters everywhere.

"Nice," commented Naruto. "Okay, so the clone can go to work now and I'll go track down Shikamaru."

Naruto found Shikamaru easily enough, he was at home, looking absolutely exhausted. His mother overseeing his training, behind their home.

"Naruto-kun," greeted his mother, wrapping him in a crushing hug. "Thank you so much for saving my Shika-chan's life."

"Sure" said Naruto. "Anytime."

"Oh, you must stay for dinner, I'm making venison steak."

"Sure," said Naruto again, not really sure what else he could or should say.

And then suddenly Yoshino was gone.

"What just happened?"

"My mother," groaned Shikamaru.

"And Shika-chan?"

"Don't ever call me that again," ordered Shikamaru, no room for teasing in his tone of voice.

"Okay, okay, take it easy."

"So what brings you by?"

"I need your help," he answered honestly.

"With what?"

"I need information," he answered again honestly.

"Information on what?"

"My potential opponents."

"I won't give you any intelligence on Chouji."

"And I'm not asking for intelligence on Chouji, I can get that on my own. What I need is intelligence on Kiba and Shino? I know the basics of their talents and ability but not enough, especially if they learned anything new this month," explained Naruto. "If you can get some intelligence on them, you're free to share it with Chouji, in fact I'd encourage it."

"And what's in it for me?" asked Shikamaru. Apparently Shika wasn't pulling any punches tonight.

"Helping your friends isn't enough?"

"It is, I just thought I'd see if I could get you to help me out with something else."

"Oh, is that all? Sure, what do you need help with?"

"Just invite me to a team so I can check something."

Naruto did so wordlessly then watched Shikamaru blaze through several data screens then close them all.

"Okay, I'm good now, you can disband the team."

Naruto was surprised. "What? That's it?"

"Yeah, I saw what I needed to."

Then Naruto figured it out. "You were checking my information weren't you?"

"Yep," answered Shikamaru.

"So you'll give Chouji intelligence on me but not the other way around? That's not very nice, or fair."

"I never said I'd give it to Chouji. I wanted to know for the day of the finals, maybe place a bet or two. There is also something else going on and I need to know where my allies stand."

Naruto nodded, he understood that. And he was glad that Shika wasn't betraying their friendship.

"Stop by in a few days, I'll see what I can find out about Kiba and Shino's training."

"Fair enough, now let's go inside and join your family for dinner."

"Speaking of family, how are things going with Karin?"

"Good, we've hit a few sensitive subjects and rough spots but I think we're starting to really get to know one another. I think we're become more like brother and sister, so I'd say things are good."

"Glad to hear it."

"Come on you two, dinner is on," called Yoshino, interrupting any further discussion.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Preparation t-minus 30:00:00:00.00**

**Train harder than you have ever trained before to prepare for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Kuchiyose no Jutsu]. ***

**Learn [Chakra To]. ***

**Learn [Futon Affinity]. ***

**Learn 3 futon jutsu.**

**Learn 2 doton jutsu.**

**Earn 10 levels to [Fuinjutsu]. ***

**Earn 5 Levels.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Earn 25 levels to [Fuinjutsu].**

**?**

**Gain 1 Toad Familiar. ***

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

'**Prepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

'**Underprepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

That surprised Naruto. He didn't really expect the bonus quest to be something so simple.

"You coming?" asked Shikamaru, seeing Naruto freeze.

"Huh, oh, yeah, sorry, quest update," he replied, catching up with Shikamaru.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

"Okay brat, back to training today," Jiraiya greeted the group as he entered through Naruto's window.

Naruto gave Jiraiya a funny look, he still didn't have any information on Shino or Kiba.

"Give it time, we need to finish off that training quest, you still need another futon and doton technique don't you?"

"Yeah, I do, but I still have two weeks, don't I?"

"Two weeks will be over before you know it, trust me on this."

"Morning," interrupted Asuma, entering the apartment. He looked particularly disheveled this morning and he didn't have an unlit cigarette at the corner of his mouth, something that had become standard when Asuma would come in.

"Someone had a good night," commented Jiraiya, smirking as if he knew something.

"Ooh, did Asuma-sensei get lucky?" asked Karin, suddenly focused completely on the man. "He did! He did get lucky!"

Asuma at least had the decency to blush.

"Was she any good?" asked Karin.

"Tell me positions? Were you experimental?

"Did you at least get her off?" asked Karin.

"Did you go down? Did she?"

"Alright, that's enough!" shouted Asuma, the poor man looked horribly embarrassed.

"I have to live with this, you should feel lucky," said Naruto.

"I still think you need to tell me when you plan to have your threesome with Neko and Hayate-sensei," said Karin.

"Can we just go?" begged Naruto.

Asuma thankfully took mercy on him making both of them vanish with shunshin.

"Thank you so much, Asuma-sensei."

"No problem, I needed to get out of there too."

"Anyway, now that you're back to training here, you can summon your two toads and let them train however they do their training."

"Do you want clones again?"

"Not yet, first I have a new skill for you."

"Ooh, scroll?"

"Not for this one, this one you'll actually have to work on. But, if you learn this I can teach you something pretty fucking amazing, if I do say so myself," Asuma boasted a bit. It was clear he was eager to teach today.

"Okay, what have you got for me?"

"Nature manipulation," he answered.

"Isn't that a jounin skill?"

"Not necessarily. Most shinobi don't learn it until they become jounin or are about to become jounin. But you don't have to master this to learn what I'm teaching, just get a foundation in it."

"Okay, so how do I start?"

Asuma handed him a leaf. "Cut that in half."

Naruto reached for a kunai only for Asuma to stop him.

"Use your chakra," he ordered.

"How do I do that?"

"Like this," Asuma then put a leaf between two fingers.

Naruto watched a small flare of chakra from Asuma's hand followed by Asuma let the leaf drop, it was cut cleanly in half. "How did you do that?"

"[Kaze Seishitsu Henka], you need to grind your chakra against itself, making it thinner and thinner, sharpening it as much as possible."

"That sounds hard," said Naruto.

**Quest Alert: Cut the leaf**

**Transform your chakra into wind natured chakra to cut a leaf in half.**

**Objective:**

**Learn [Kaze Seishitsu Henka]**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

"It is hard, it's very, very hard. So hard that it takes some shinobi years to learn just one nature manipulation, let alone master one. So, I would recommend making as many clones as possible and putting them on the task. Make sure they know to dispel if they make any progress so the knowledge can be shared."

Naruto nodded. So he made a clone and it split into ten clones with five hundred CP each, grabbing a leaf each. While they did that and got to work, Naruto replenished his Chakra and formed more clones.

"Don't forget to summon your toad friends."

"Oh yeah," said Naruto, summoning two toads a moment later.

"Naruto-nisan," cheered Gamatatsu.

"What's up bro?" greeted Gamakichi.

"Hey guys," Naruto greeted the pair, tossing them each a candy. "So, more training today, get to it."

"Awe, I wanted to play," whined Tatsu.

"Shut up, Tatsu, we're Gama Shinobi, act like it," chided Kichi.

"But Kichi-nisan," whined Tatsu, looking sad and maybe a little disappointed.

"Shut up, Tatsu, let's go," ordered Kichi, hopping away from Naruto, Tatsu reluctantly following.

"You guys work hard today and I'll give you extra candy tonight when we're done training," Naruto bribed them. Kichi didn't really need the bribe but Tatsu did and he couldn't just promise Tatsu so he had to promise both of them just for the sake of making them work harder. There was a reason he hadn't summoned the little yellow toad more often even as useful as he was with his healing secretions.

Naruto first summoned Gamatatsu a day after he first summoned Kichi. The little yellow toad with orange markings was a wimp. He didn't like fighting, he wanted to eat all the time. So when Naruto had to choose a path for the little guy it was an easy decision to make him a healer. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, the first healing ability was an ability that applied chakra to a gland in Tatsu's body to make it secrete a healing oil through his skin. So long as Gamatatsu was in contact with his body, he would continuously heal Naruto so long as he had chakra. It was disgusting but effective.

Anyway, with the toads off doing their own thing, Naruto was back to refilling his chakra between spawning clones. When there were well over a hundred clones working Naruto went to help Kichi and Tatsu with their training.

"Nisan, why do I have to do this?" complained Tatsu.

"For your healing to work, you have to remain in contact with me. Right now, you're too small for me to ride on so you have to ride on me. If you fall off, you're not going to be able to heal me, now are you?"

"No, I guess not."

"Okay, so, Kichi, do your best to knock him off with your Suiton: Teppodama no Jutsu? Tatsu, you hang on to me while I do my best to dodge."

"Okay," said Tatsu doubtfully. The little toad clearly lacked confidence.

So Naruto worked with the little toad, replacing his clones as they dispelled after a little success. Eventually Jiraiya and Karin joined them, the former happy to sit and watch with a bottle of sake while Karin worked on her physical training, something she'd improved drastically due to Naruto's gamer ability.

Finally around noon, Jiraiya called the real Naruto over.

"What's up, Ero-Sennin?"

"Here," he said tossing a scroll at Naruto.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Doton: Otoshiana no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto happily accepted learning the skill.

**You've obtained the skill 'Doton: Otoshiana no Jutsu'.**

**[Doton: Otoshiana no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 250]**

A C-Rank ninjutsu. The pitfall trap is a standard of shinobi but very difficult to set up on short notice. Otoshiana allows you to instantly create a pitfall fall trap lined with spikes and covered with a thin layer of earth designed to give way when stepped on.

Max number of spikes you can create: 6

Max depth: 3 meters

Max width: 3 meters

"Cool, thanks, Ero-Sennin."

"No problem, now be very careful when you train that. Make sure you set the damned thing off every time you make one, you don't want some poor unsuspecting moron to die because you left a trap behind," Jiraiya explained strictly. He then tossed another scroll at Naruto.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu]**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

"Oh hell yeah, Kakashi-sensei used this on Sasuke before," said Naruto. He went silent for a moment before giggling, which quickly turned into a full blown maniacal laugh. Eventually, he tapped the accept button completely ignoring the looks he was getting from Jiraiya, Asuma, Karin and even the two little toads.

**You've obtained the skill 'Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu'.**

**[Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp 0.00% CP: 100 + 20 per 5 seconds while underground]**

A D-Rank ninjutsu. This technique conceals the user underground and drags the object of their attack down into the earth, robbing them of their freedom.

Passively increases Stealth concealment 15%

"Damn, Ero-Sennin, that is a lot of jutsu to practice."

"Yeah, well, you won't be getting any more from me for a while so I suggest you practice as much as you can."

"Yo, Naruto, you're starting to run out of clones," called Asuma, the man was somewhere in the horde or clones that still remained.

"You heard him, give him more clones then I suggest you get practicing the two techniques you just got."

"You got it," Naruto nearly shouted, grinning from ear to ear and giving the pervert a mock salute. He was assaulted with two new quest windows a second later.

**Quest Alert: Improve your Doton skills**

**Practice your doton techniques elevating their usefulness.**

**Objectives:**

**Earn 10 levels to [Doton: Otoshiana no Jutsu].**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

Naruto accepted then looked at the next quest.

**Quest Alert: Improve your Doton skills**

**Practice your doton techniques elevating their usefulness.**

**Objectives:**

**Earn 10 levels to [Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu].**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

"Naruto, clones!" shouted Asuma.

Naruto chuckled and dove into spawning clones again, he had a lot of quests to cover.

By the early evening, Naruto had completed both of Jiraiya's doton quests which also earned him a level completing yet another objective of the training quest. He just needed one more futon technique and he'd complete all the primary objectives.

"Alright kid, I'm done for the day," said Asuma. "Make sure you dispel your clones slowly, I don't want you to melt your brain if you do too many at once." He vanished a moment later with a shunshin.

"And I have a date," said Jiraiya, grinning perversely, also vanishing with a shunshin.

"I need to go shopping," said Karin. "Dinner will be ready around 8:00 if you decide to join me."

"Okay, I'll be here a bit longer, it's a lot of clones to dispel."

"Later then," Karin replied before wondering off.

So Naruto, sat down and waited on his clones to dispel, a leaf pressed between his two hands, he may as well keep busy if he was going to be waiting so long. He didn't expect to actually learn the technique Asuma was pushing him to figure out.

**Quest Completion Awarded: 500000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Cut the leaf**

**Transform your chakra into wind natured chakra to cut a leaf in half.**

**Objective:**

**Learn [Kaze Seishitsu Henka]**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

**[Kaze Seishitsu Henka (Active/Passive) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 200]**

Nature Transformation is an advanced form of chakra control. It entails the molding and defining of one's chakra into a wind type of chakra nature, altering its properties and characteristics.

Passively increase WIS 1%

Passively increase [Futon] damage by 1%

"Nice," he commented, his clones the only one to hear him.

"So now what?" asked a clone.

"I don't know. Asuma-sensei said he'd teach a new technique once we learned this so I guess we'll learn a new technique tomorrow. For now, I guess just keep dispelling."

"Seems like a waste," said a different clone.

"Have you got a better idea?" asked another clone.

"Ooh, what about that wind technique was saw that Baki guy using? There were no handseals or nothing, just wind manipulation. I bet we could figure it out."

**Quest Alert: Recreate the Kaze no Yaiba**

**Using what you learned from watching the fight between Baki and Hayate to recreate the deadly wind skill.**

**Objective:**

**Learn [Futon: Kaze no Yaiba no Jutsu]**

**Completion Award: 250000**

**Completion Failure: 25000**

"Nice," cheered Naruto once again. "Let's do it."

So Naruto and his slowly dispelling clones attempted to recreate the technique to almost zero success. He knew it had something to do with nature manipulation and forming a blade with his fingertips but not much more than that. So even as the last clone dispelled he hadn't succeeded.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

A couple days had passed since Naruto had first learned to cut a leaf with his chakra, something that really impressed Asuma. Since then he'd been having Naruto grind cutting leaves to make it stronger and faster.

"Toads and leaves, Naruto," ordered Asuma, much to Naruto annoyance. It was getting old. Still he did as he was told.

[Kuchiyose no Jutsu] his hand slapped the ground, summoning the two little toad in one shot, something he'd discovered he could do just the day before.

**[Kuchiyose no Jutsu]'s level has risen by one.**

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Preparation t-minus 30:00:00:00.00**

**Train harder than you have ever trained before to prepare for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Kuchiyose no Jutsu]. ***

**Learn [Chakra To]. ***

**Learn [Futon Affinity]. ***

**Learn 3 futon jutsu.**

**Learn 2 doton jutsu.**

**Earn 10 levels to [Fuinjutsu]. ***

**Earn 5 Levels.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Earn 25 levels to [Fuinjutsu].**

**Earn 25 levels to [Kuchiyose no Jutsu]**

**Gain 1 Toad Familiar. ***

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

'**Prepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

'**Underprepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

"Sweet," cheered Naruto.

"Ooh, sweets, where?" asked Tatsu.

Naruto's celebration was cut short in just those three little words. Why did Tatsu have to be so . . . silly? "Here you go," Naruto handed each of them a small candy.

After that, Naruto was back to cutting leaves.

"Let me know when you get to level ten with that skill," said Asuma, lighting up a cigarette.

"Okay, should only take about an hour," Naruto replied, his skill was already at level eight. He had discovered very early on that this skill was extremely slow to improve.

It was still early, Jiraiya and Karin would come later. Karin had recently picked up [Fuinjutsu] and as a result Jiraiya had been helping her out while also pushing one of Naruto's clones on it as well. Thinking about it, reminded Naruto he needed to pick up more sealing supplies and his upgraded equipment from Higurashi's.

It also occurred to Naruto that he needed to follow up with Shikamaru, find out if he'd gotten any intelligence on Kiba and Shino's training.

Before he knew it he'd gained the two levels he needed to satisfy Asuma.

"Asuma-sensei, I just hit level 10 with the [Kaze Seishitsu Henka] skill like you wanted.

"Nicely done, now for the skill I want to teach you." Asuma then pulled out his Chakra-To and an old kunai. It was like a hot knife through butter as Asuma's chakra-to cut through the kunai. "That is my Hien technique. You're going to learn it."

**Quest Alert: Cut the kunai**

**Apply wind natured chakra to your chakra-to to cut a kunai in half**

**Objective:**

**Learn [Futon: Hien no Jutsu]**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

"How does it work?" Naruto asked, even as he accepted the quest.

"You focus wind natured chakra to the edge of your chakra-to. The wind chakra will make the blade sharper and it can even extend the reach of the blade. Why don't you give it a try?"

Naruto pulled one of his chakra-to from the sheath attached to his belt near his lower back. He pushed chakra into it at first just like with [Chakra Nagashi] but that's all it was. It took a bit for him to focus the chakra he channeled into wind chakra despite the practice he'd had.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Using your chakra to create a sharp edge, 'Futon: Hien no Jutsu' Lvl. 1 has been created.**

**[Futon: Hien no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 50 per 5 seconds]**

A B-Rank ninjutsu. An addition-line ninjutsu that augments the killing power of a blade – like a kunai or sword – by flowing chakra into it. Deals Cutting Damage 100-150. Deals Bleed Damage 5-10

Additional 1% to blade length when active.

**Quest Completion Awarded: 500000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Cut the kunai**

**Apply wind natured chakra to your chakra-to to cut a kunai in half**

**Objective:**

**Learn [Futon: Hien no Jutsu]**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

"That was easy," said Naruto, very happy for both the skill and level he earned as a result.

"It's not a hard technique if you know nature transformation, it is learning nature transformation that is damn near impossible," explained Asuma. "Now, you just need to practice using it."

**Quest Alert: Improve your Futon skills**

**Practice your doton techniques elevating their usefulness.**

**Objectives:**

**Earn 10 levels to [Futon: Hien no Jutsu].**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

"Oh for fucks sake," groused Naruto.

"What wrong?"

"Nothing, it is just another fucking quest. Ever since I started training with you and Ero-Sennin I've been bombarded with quests. Every time I turn one in, another pops up. It's completely nuts."

"So, let me see if I understand this, you're complaining about getting stupid easy experience before going into a tournament in which your life is potentially on the line?"

"Well . . . when you put it like that it sounds stupid as fuck."

"Then just shut up and get to work," ordered Asuma, rolling another cigarette because the one in his mouth was almost done.

Training was actually somewhat light that day, just practicing the techniques he knew well and training himself physically to gain his bonus stat points after leveling up.

After ending training a bit early, Naruto went to Higurashi's first to pick up his gear and stock up on [Fuinjutsu] supplies. After that he paid Shikamaru a visit.

"So?" asked Naruto after they explained pleasantries.

"Kiba's been working on a two headed wolf technique with Akamaru, it increases his power exponentially but he moves so fast he can't see what's he's attacking. Shino, seems to be working on increasing the speed with which he can deploy his bugs. I think I saw him make a bug clone too."

"How did you get this information?" asked Naruto, beyond impressed.

"The deer antlers we harvest are used in a lot of stuff. I volunteered to do the Aburame and Inuzuka deliveries for the next few weeks."

"That is awesome," said Naruto, laughing. He was really amused by it.

"No one was suspicious?"

"Nope, I've made the deliveries before, it's just been a while. Made up a story about helping out while my team's on break so I could make some extra money."

"Nice, way to go buddy."

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Information is Power**

**Gather Intelligence on your potential opponents for the final round of the exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gain 50 levels to [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gather intelligence on your first opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Gather intelligence on at least three other potential opponents of the third round without being caught (3/3).**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Gather intelligence on all potential opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Completion Award: 500000**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

"Nice, bonus objective completed."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I've now gathered intelligence on everyone I could possibly fight," he answered.

"That's somewhat impressive, how did you manage that?"

"I'll tell you after the exams," replied Naruto, seeing through Shikamaru's plan for a change.

"Saw through that did you?"

"Just a little, anyway, I'll see you later. I'm exhausted. It's been a busy day."

"Later, Naruto."

"Later, Shika."

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

Days passed and Naruto's skills kept improving, even finishing a few quests along the way.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp**

**Quest Completion Awarded: 500000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Information is Power**

**Gather Intelligence on your potential opponents for the final round of the exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gain 50 levels to [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gather intelligence on your first opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Gather intelligence on at least three other potential opponents of the third round without being caught (3/3).**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Gain 75 levels to [Toton Jutsu]**

**Gather intelligence on all potential opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Completion Award: 500000**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

Around the same time he managed to recreate the [Futon: Kaze no Yaiba no Jutsu] but he didn't have time to train it up much.

**Quest Completion Awarded: 250000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Recreate the Kaze no Yaiba**

**Using what you learned from watching the fight between Baki and Hayate to recreate the deadly wind skill.**

**Objective:**

**Learn [Futon: Kaze no Yaiba no Jutsu]**

**Completion Award: 250000**

**Completion Failure: 25000**

Still, finishing that directly to another bonus objective completion.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Preparation t-minus 30:00:00:00.00**

**Train harder than you have ever trained before to prepare for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Kuchiyose no Jutsu]. **

**Learn [Chakra To]. **

**Learn [Futon Affinity]. **

**Learn 3 futon jutsu.**

**Learn 2 doton jutsu.**

**Earn 10 levels to [Fuinjutsu]. **

**Earn 5 Levels.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Learn 1 A-Rank or higher futon jutsu.**

**?**

**Earn 25 levels to [Fuinjutsu].**

**Earn 25 levels to [Kuchiyose no Jutsu].**

**Gain 1 Toad Familiar. **

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

'**Prepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

'**Underprepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

"Finals are tomorrow, you ready, brat?" asked Jiraiya, sitting down next to Naruto.

Naruto was sitting on his father's head, looking out over the village. Reflecting on all of the recent changes. So much had happened in just a month. It was almost overwhelming.

"I think so," he answered slowly. "Do you think I'm ready?"

"No, but you will be," said Jiraiya. "You're like your mom and dad in the regard. They were never ready for anything until they were in the moment, especially your mom. You should have seen them scrambling to get ready for you . . . man, what a mess."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, based on the stories he'd been told by the self-professed 'super pervert'. "I could see that, assuming you weren't lying your ass off to me."

"I would never," protested the pervert, not looking believable in the slightest.

"Sure you wouldn't," joked Naruto.

"Right then, if you're ready I think we're good saying my contract is fulfilled. Agreed?"

"Agreed," said Naruto.

**Quest Completion Awarded: 500000 Exp **

'**Prepared' status buff for day of the finals**

**Quest Alert: Preparation t-minus 00:11:03:36.98**

**Train harder than you have ever trained before to prepare for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Kuchiyose no Jutsu]. **

**Learn [Chakra To]. **

**Learn [Futon Affinity]. **

**Learn 3 futon jutsu.**

**Learn 2 doton jutsu.**

**Earn 10 levels to [Fuinjutsu]. **

**Earn 5 Levels.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Learn 1 A-Rank or higher futon jutsu.**

**?**

**Earn 25 levels to [Fuinjutsu].**

**Earn 25 levels to [Kuchiyose no Jutsu].**

**Gain 1 Toad Familiar. **

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

'**Prepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

'**Underprepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**Congratulations! Your level has increase by 1.**

"Damn it!"

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV35** Next Level: **21.14%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **8263/8263

**CP: **5704/5704

**STR: **134 (68.40) = 202.40

**VIT: **117 (359.25) = 476.25

**DEX: **134 (83.70) = 217.70

**INT: **107 (113.38) = 220.38

**WIS: **107 (107.54) = 214.54

**LUK: ?**

**DEF: **489.00 (122.25) = 611.25

**SPD: **99 (171.50) = 270.50

**Status: **Uzumaki Clan Heir (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill),** Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level),** Inspirational Leader** (+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of),** Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)** Prepared 24:00:00.00 **(+10% Damage to scouted opponents, -10% Damage from scouted opponents)

**Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. ****His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?**

**Point: **11

**Ryo: **454650


	29. Chapter 29

A/N: First, I have to apologize, I made a gaping error in the last chapter, thank you to those who pointed it out. I have gone back and re-written that particular section. On the plus side, it did give me a wonderful something to use soon.

A/N2: I had to rethink how chakra control works, as someone was nice enough to point out, all of Naruto's current passive control buff reduce his chakra cost for all techniques by almost 100%, which doesn't really work very well. So, I'm making the change such that his improving chakra control reduces how much chakra he over uses. For example, if a skill require 100 CP and he regularly uses 180 CP for that skill, the reduced waste of 50% would mean he uses 140 CP instead, that way, the close her gets to 100% the closer he gets to using only what is required, and if he goes over 100% he sees no benefit. I'll have to probably go back and rewrite some things to make it fit but it should do the job.

A/N3: So, did a lot of re-writing of this chapter, I wasn't overly satisfied with certain aspects of it. Now, it's pretty bad ass so enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3**

**Successfully complete the third stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Defeat Uchiha Sasuke.**

**Defeat Sabaku Gaara.**

**Defeat ?**

**Defeat ?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

It was this message that first greeted Naruto as he entered the arena, a quest that he happily accepted. A flashing symbol in his peripheral with a timer below it going live also signaled that his 'Prepared' buff was now active and counting down.

**Prepared 24:00:00.00** (+10% Damage to scouted opponents, -10% Damage from scouted opponents)

Looking away from the buff, as nice as it was, Naruto couldn't help but look around in awe from the arena floor, he'd never been here before and if he won, he might never be here again. The stands were still filling up but he could see civilian and shinobi alike moving around, laughing and joking with each other, some placing bets. Bets, now there was something Naruto would love to be up there taking but it could backfire bigtime if he were to get hurt resulting in his clones dispelling, causing any money they collect to fly all over in their death. It would be bad for business, bad for his reputation, and probably bad for his health.

Looking around, he also noticed the Hokage's box was still empty but then he figured it would remain that way until it was time to start or just before then.

On the arena floor with Naruto, only two other competitors had arrived, Neji and Lee. Neji seemed to settle for glaring at Naruto then Lee and back to Naruto while Lee kept himself busy stretching and throwing punches and kicks to warm up.

"Morning gentlemen," Naruto tried to greet them both.

"Yosh, morning, Naruto-kun, how are your flames of youth on this fine morning?"

"Uh, burning youthfully," he answered somewhat unsure of what to say.

That seemed to excite Lee and he began to shout and scream unintelligibly.

Meanwhile, Neji just seemed to glare harder.

"What is your problem?" Naruto finally asked, tired of his attitude.

"Fate has already determined who the strongest here is, you do not belong."

"Uh, I am the strongest here," answered Naruto with absolute confidence, his level said as much. Sure, Neji was level 34 now but Naruto still had him by a level.

Neji sneered but refused to be engaged any further.

"Man, I would hate to be you," Naruto added as an afterthought.

"Oh, you would hate be part of a clan as famous and respected as the Hyuuga? Or would you hate to be a prodigy with talent not seen since Uchiha Itachi?"

"No, I wouldn't really mind either of those. I would hate to be fate's bitch."

Neji's Byakugan activated on reflex.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" asked Naruto, smirking. "What's wrong? Don't like the fact that you're a bitch to something that doesn't really exist?"

"If you were not fated to lose to the last Uchiha, I would be happy to destroy you."

"I'm sure you would be happy to, but you're not strong enough," taunted Naruto. It was some gamesmanship to mess with his potential opponent and it turned out he was pretty good at it.

"You will not goad me into attacking you now and being disqualified," stated Neji, disengaging his Byakugan and closing his eyes.

"I wouldn't worry about it much anyway, Lee's going to kick your ass before you get a chance to prove yourself right."

"That pathetic excuse for a shinobi? You're truly grasping at straws if you think he has a chance."

Lee now sat at level 33, which was a solid improvement from where he was during the prelims. Still, based on his stats, he didn't know if anyone could beat Lee.

"Lee might just surprise you and fate both. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Already messing with their heads?" asked Kiba, walking in with his usual over confident swagger and totally ruining whatever psychological blows he may have already landed on Neji.

"It doesn't work if you tell them," Naruto stated harshly, glaring at Kiba.

Kiba had made some very large strides forward level wise, he now sat at a very respectable level 26. That was six whole levels above where he was at the start of the exams.

**Name: **Inuzuka Kiba

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV26** Next Level: **44.22%

**HP: **1010/1010

**CP: **390/390

**STR: **208

**VIT: **101

**DEX: **257

**INT: **39

**WIS:** 30

**LUK:** 3

**DEF: **550

**SPD: **167

**Status: ** **Feral Beast** (+8 STR &amp; +8 DEX per level, -15 WIS, -15 INT), **Pack Leader** (+10 INT, +10 WIS, +10% damage when in team), **Ninken Master** (Ninken partner +20% damage, ninken partner +25% increase to experience gain)

He even improved one of his status buffs giving him a shitload more strength and dexterity which gave him a powerful boost to his speed. He would be a very dangerous opponent for Chouji that was for certain.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Naruto. Not like you'll make it past Sasuke for any of your 'messing with' them to pay off. And even if you did, you'd definitely get killed fighting Gaara. Hell, when I beat Chouji I'll probably withdraw before fighting Gaara next.

On the one hand, Naruto was glad Kiba finally respected the threat that was Gaara, on the other, he really didn't appreciate the lack of respect he was showing him. Then Naruto figured out exactly what Kiba was doing.

"You've got a lot of balls to talk about 'messing' with people when you're already trying to mess with my head," Naruto called him out on his bullshit.

"Can't blame a dog for trying," he replied, a feral grin on his face.

"Hey guys," shouted Chouji, arriving next.

"Sup, Chouji," Kiba greeted him. "How you feeling today? You're looking a bit underweight."

"Yeah, and you smell terrible," said Chouji. "It's making my eyes water from here. How do you ever expect to hide from anyone when they can smell you coming from a mile away?"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the rather perfect retort from the rotund genin. Chouji had also improved rather significantly since the start of the exams also gaining six levels.

**Name: **Akimichi Chouji

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV28** Next Level: **32.32%

**HP: **3160/3160

**CP: **520/520

**STR: **216

**VIT: **92

**DEX: **32

**INT: **52

**WIS: **42

**LUK: **4

**DEF:** 750

**SPD: **44

**Status: Hulk** (+80 HP &amp; +5 STR per level, -10 DEX), **Connoisseur** (+15% effectiveness of [Cooking] Skill, +25% experience gain to [Cooking] Skill), **Faithful Friend** (+10% to all stats when in team with 'Exalted' friend).

"Looking good, Chouji," Naruto finally commented, appreciating how much he'd improved.

"Yeah, my dad worked me hard this month. I've gotten a lot stronger."

"I can tell," he replied, knowing the Chouji knew that he knew exactly how much he improved.

"Fucking tree-huggers," groused Kankuro as he entered the arena followed by a very unhappy looking Gaara.

"Fucking sand-rats," groused Naruto and Kiba in one voice.

"I hate this place," complained Kankuro.

"Kankuro, shut up . . . or I'll kill you," ordered Gaara, silencing his brother instantly.

"What's wrong, little guy?" asked Naruto. "Did someone miss his nap time?"

"Dude, are you insane?" Kiba asked, trying to pull Naruto away from Gaara.

"Maybe a little," answered Naruto.

"Insane or not, we're about ready to start," said Genma, a man that had offered to train Naruto for the finals during the month break. The man still wore a bandana covering his head and a senbon in his mouth, acting like a toothpick or maybe a substitute for a cigarette but there was no way to tell for certain. His standard blue and green uniform looked freshly cleaned and pressed for today's event but otherwise, there was nothing really notable about it.

"Hey, Genma-san, how are you?" asked Naruto.

"Fine, but for now, I suggest you line up, the Hokage will be addressing us soon."

"Any word on Sasuke-teme?"

As if the bastard heard him, he and Kakashi both appeared in the arena in front of the lined up genin. "We're not late are we?" asked Kakashi.

"Nope, you're right on time," answered Genma.

"Great, mind if I talk to my other student for a moment?"

"You've got about two minutes."

"Thanks," said Kakashi, walking over to Naruto and ushering him to the side.

"What's up, sensei?"

"Spying, Naruto, really?"

"Ero-Sennin said it was normal for the exams. And are you telling me you didn't encourage Sasuke to do the same?"

"I did, and he refused saying he didn't need it. It is pretty standard, well done getting to us too by the way, but I don't ever want to catch you spying on a teammate again. We clear?"

"Yeah, I'll be chuunin by the end of today anyway so I won't ever have to do it again," he replied.

"Well, good luck then," said Kakashi, using a shunshin to vanish. Most like reappearing somewhere in the stands to watch the fights.

Naruto rejoined the genin, excited for things to get underway. He was surprised to see Shino there, he didn't even notice his arrival.

"Welcome, one and all," the Hokage's voice boomed through the arena. "I am proud to announce the start of the Chuunin Selection Exam Finals. To the competitors I say this, fight hard, fight smart, and make your villages proud."

"I hope you all paid attention," said Genma. "If Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto would remain, everyone else can proceed up to the competitor's box."

"We fight first?" asked Naruto.

"Only because you are in the deepest bracket," answered Genma.

Naruto nodded and started to do some light stretches while he waited for everyone to leave the arena floor.

"You should quit, you know? You're just going to embarrass yourself and the village by fighting me," said Sasuke harshly.

"You wish," said Naruto, with a light laugh. Using [Observe] on him to see how much he really improved during the break.

**Name: **Uchiha Sasuke

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV32** Next Level: **57.41%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **980/980

**CP: **2780/2780

**STR: **58

**VIT: **98

**DEX: **295

**INT: **278

**WIS: **197

**LUK: **1

**DEF: **125

**SPD: **231

**Status: Double Tomoe Sharingan** (+7 DEX &amp; +8 INT &amp; +5 WIS per Level), **Avenger** (+25% to all stats when attacking Uchiha Itachi), **Firebug** (-15% cost to katon jutsu, +10% damage to katon jutsu) **Sparkplug **(-15% cost to raiton jutsu, +10% damage to raiton jutsu)

"Fine, have it your way. Just don't cry to Kakashi when I crush you and your dreams."

"Dude, back down the psycho talk, we have an audience here," warned Naruto.

"I don't care, none of them mean anything to me. Only defeating you so I can fight Gaara matters. I need to get stronger and you're standing in my way," he said coldly.

Naruto shook his head in disappointment. Sasuke seemed to be in his unstable mood again. That meant Sasuke was going to be an unpredictable fuck that might try to kill him. That meant Naruto couldn't toy with him and show off for the judges, he needed to end it fast and with as little embarrassment as possible.

"Competitors, take your places," ordered Genma, ending the discussion.

Naruto moved to stand to the place Genma motioned to as Sasuke did the same, his Sharingan already active.

**Genjutsu Detected**

**Genjutsu Resisted**

Naruto closed the messages, the fight hadn't even started yet and Sasuke was already trying to place him in a weak genjutsu. "Trying to snare me in a genjutsu already, the fight hasn't even started."

"Attempt another genjutsu before I start the match and you'll be disqualified," ordered Genma, glaring at Sasuke.

Sasuke though just shrugged not really caring, his eyes were focused on Naruto.

"Hajime," called Genma, blurring out of view as soon as the word left his mouth.

Naruto was already ducking a few shuriken and throwing a few back at Sasuke.

Sasuke easily dodged the shuriken and unleashed a series of small fireballs at Naruto, he was not happy to see a rock wall shoot up out of the ground, not only blocking the fireballs but also obscuring Naruto from view.

Behind the wall, a small maze had been formed and within that maze, Naruto had several clones hidden using [Toton Jutsu] while he went underground to hide.

Sasuke was undeterred by the wall, leaping easily to the top of the wall and seeing the small maze on the other side. It was very distracting to his eyes as the walls were saturated with Chakra, obscuring where Naruto might actually be. He jumped high above the maze and fired a massive fireball into the area, easily destroying the walls and any clones Naruto had hidden.

When Sasuke landed on the flat and slightly charred arena floor he was clearly surprised to have his ankles grabbed only to be dragged into the ground, buried up to his neck.

"And that's the match, thanks for playing, better luck next time," taunted Naruto, now that Sasuke was caught it was unlikely he would be able to go on a murderous rampage.

Sasuke growled in anger, trying to shift a little from side to side.

"You can't escape that, you're caught, just give up," said Naruto, this time there was no emotion in his statement. "I'll knock you out if I have to but it's unnecessary."

"You're dead," hissed Sasuke.

As Naruto walked up him to knock him out, he wasn't prepared for Sasuke's entire body to become coated in electricity complete destabilizing the earth that was trapping.

The last Uchiha sprung from the ground, his chokuto moving fast to decapitate Naruto.

On reflex, Naruto pulled his chakra-to to block Sasuke's attack, he strained for a moment before channeling some wind based chakra into the blades, slicing cleanly through the sword and continuing on straight for Sasuke's face. Naruto's eyes widened slight and had to act quickly to move the blade away, he may have been pissed but he wasn't about to stoop to Sasuke's level and try to kill the boy.

Meanwhile Sasuke clearly wasn't prepared for his electrically charged sword to be sliced clean through by a pair of knives. He had to move fast to try to dodge out of the way of Naruto's blade heading right at his face, so he was stunned when even after he clearly dodged the blade, his face was still sliced into rather deeply just above his eye.

"Trying to kill me?" raged Sasuke.

"You're one to talk," retorted Naruto, frowning and feeling a bit guilty that he could have killed Sasuke if not for both of them moving to prevent just that.

Sasuke wiped at the blood flowing freely into his eye was blinding half of his vision. "I'll kill you for that, trying to take out my eye."

"Hey, chicks dig scars don't they? On the other hand I'm sure that cut will leave you with a real beauty of a scar, it'll make you not so pretty anymore. You can't complain about a few less fangirls right?"

"You almost cut my eye," hissed Sasuke, his aura turning much darker.

Narrowed eyes took note of the juin, a line of jagged arrows all connected, starting to creep up Sasuke's neck from the cursed seal.

**[Ten no Juin (Active/Passive) Lv2 Exp: 0.32% Corruption: 0.50% per 5 seconds]**

Your deal with the devil is a double edged sword. The Ten no Juin will grant you immense increases in most stats but the corruption that accompanies that power puts everything and everyone at risk. Be cautious as this gift of Orochimaru will severely impair your judgment.

Passively regenerate 1.50% HP per 5 seconds.

Passively regenerate 1.00% CP per 5 seconds.

Additional 75% to STR when Active.

Additional 50% to HP when Active.

Additional 150% to DEX when Active.

Additional 25% to CP when Active.

Additional 100% to DEF when Active.

Additional 150% to SPD when Active.

Additional -75% to WIS when Active.

Regenerate 25% HP when Active.

Regenerate 25% CP when Active.

"Fuck me," groaned Naruto, now he really needed to end the fight quickly. And that might mean using the [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail] much earlier than originally planned.

Sasuke blurred forward, a fist driving into Naruto's unprotected gut, dropping a solid chunk of his HP just from that hit. Sasuke's second strike to the side of Naruto's head had him exploding in a cloud of smoke.

The poor clone Naruto switched with never stood a chance against that hit but damn it didn't save his ass. And just as quick Naruto was on the retreat from a possessed Sasuke. Even as he dodge and substituted with one clone after another he couldn't help but with Kakashi had made a threat concerning him using that damned cursed seal.

A clone finally struck Sasuke's cheek dropping him a few HP only to burst after a kunai met its neck a second later, still it was a solid hit. Naruto was quick to pour on the clones, if for no other reason than to buy time and maybe wear Sasuke down.

"Coward," howled Sasuke, slicing into clones left and right, not noticing the juin crawling across his face in full now. "Come face me, coward! Stop with these pathetic clones and fight me!"

"Yeah, that's probably not going to happen," said a clone before quickly expiring.

"Harsh," commented another clone that met the same fate a moment later.

"[Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu]!" Sasuke yelled, his voice straining even as the massive dragon of fire spat from his mouth and decimated the field of clones.

A quick [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu] was the only thing that prevented Naruto from being barbequed with his poor clones. The only positive was the return of most of the chakra he spent on the clones.

"Is that all you've got, Uzumaki?" called Sasuke. "Hiding behind a dirt wall? Is that was you are then, just dirt to scraped from the bottom of my sandals?"

"You seriously need to work on your trash talking," called Naruto from behind the stone wall, even as he sunk into the ground leaving a clone behind to distract.

Said clone was left with a lot of chakra and a good number of techniques to distract with. As such when it popped up from behind the wall it was already shooting a few bullets made of mud directly into the wall of fire that would no doubt incinerate him in a minute. Still, the fire was a double edged sword in this case. The fire served to harden the mud and obscure the mud, now stone, from view.

The first rock impacted Sasuke's hands directly in front of his face with a loud crack and snap breaking several of his fingers before impacting his face breaking his nose. The second rock his shoulder and while it didn't break the shoulder it did spin him around in addition to hurting him. And the third rock bullet impacted with the back of his thigh cutting his legs out from under him landing him on the hard ground with a heavy and painful thud.

Sasuke ended up dazed and in a great deal of pain as he tried to regain a modicum of control back. Unfortunately, it got worse for him when a hand reached up out of the ground under him before he could do anything. The arm wrapped around his throat putting him a very tight strangle hold while a foot and different hand restrained his arms. With the bloody nose and cut above his eye he was barely able to struggle before unconsciousness finally claimed him and he went limp.

Naruto pushed the body away as he fully emerged from the ground, breathing a little heavily after the fight he just endured.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" was announced to a stunned silent crowd.

Naruto took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he jumped up cheering a little, completely ignorant of the silent crowd. It took a minute for him to calm before he walked off the arena floor and into the tunnel leading up to the competitors box. That was one hell of a fight and best of all, he didn't have use the [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail], he knew it was only thanks to Sasuke's judgment being so impaired once he used that [Ten no Juin], a tail of caution about his own use of the similar power he could access.

**Objective Completed.**

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 50000**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3**

**Successfully complete the third stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Defeat Uchiha Sasuke.**

**Defeat Sabaku Gaara.**

**Defeat ?**

**Defeat ?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Bury Sasuke up to his neck using [Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu]**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

Even in the competitor's box he was getting some odd looks from the others there.

"That was kind of awesome," said Kiba finally.

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" joked Naruto.

"Good job down there," offered Chouji. "I think under the circumstances you put together one hell of a strategy."

"I hope the judges see it that way. It was a tough fight and Sasuke wasn't making it easy. Especially after he started using that Juin."

"Well, I'm just glad you kicked his ass," said Kiba, getting appreciative look from Naruto. "It just made the tournament so much easier for me." And the appreciation was gone.

Naruto took another deep breath and nodded in gratitude to Chouji but send Kiba a little glare.

"Hajime!" was shouted from the arena floor.

Naruto, Kiba and Chouji all instantly turned to watch the fight between Neji and Shino.

Shino seemed to be completely relaxed, slowly raising his arms and allowing his kikaichu to fly from his sleeves swarming in Neji's direction.

The kikaichu circled Neji at first, surrounding him before starting to converge on him, only to be blown away a moment later by Neji's kaiten.

Naruto watched as the kaiten wavered slightly even as it threw the kikaichu back, like the chakra from it was being eaten. He also notice the immediate and rather large drop in Neji's chakra.

Apparently Neji noticed the drop too because he changed from a defensive approach to an offensive one, trying to close in on Shino, only to have to retreat quickly to avoid getting swarmed by bugs from the unmoving genin.

"Hakke Kusho," Neji said as he thrust a palm at Shino.

Shino was suddenly pulled off of his feet and into the air toward Neji, his protective barrier of bugs unable to move fast enough to keep up.

"You're in range of my divination," said Neji. "Hakke: Rokujuyon Sho," he said just before his hands attacked in an unseal blur. "Two strikes, four strikes, eight strikes, sixteen strikes, thirty-two strikes, sixty-four strikes." When it ended Shino was down and struggling to breathe while his kikaichu floated in the air aimlessly, confused even.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji!" announced Genma, seeing Shino was clearly unconscious.

Shino's father appeared on the field a moment later, directing the confused kikaichu back to Shino to start repairing his son's body. Then he signaled to the iryonin in waiting to come collect him. Shibi vanished as soon as the iryonin got to him.

As soon as the field cleared, Lee and Kankuro were called down.

"I forfeit," called Kankuro before he could even leave the balcony.

Lee looked absolutely crestfallen while Naruto just looked extremely suspicious. Up in the Hokage's private booth, Naruto could see the old man talking to the Kazekage but what was being said he had no idea, he could barely see them from the competitor's box he couldn't make out their names at all. It was just blurry from the distance between them.

"Rock Lee wins by forfeit," announced Genma, his eyes also narrowed suspiciously at Kankuro.

"I guess it's up to you two," said Naruto, looking to Kiba and Chouji.

Kiba jumped the railing while Chouji took the long walk through the tunnels down to the arena floor probably taking the long way to clear his head and focus on the coming fight.

Kiba and Akamaru yipped and growled at each other in some hidden language known only to them but it seemed to be some kind of pep talk based on how excited each of them was getting just waiting for Chouji to arrive.

When Chouji, did emerge from the tunnel something about him seemed off, he looked thinner but thicker at the same time. It was very strange.

"What did he do?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"It looks like he moved his fat ass into his arms," commented Kankuro.

Naruto looked again, it was true, at least partially. Chouji's arms were much thicker, so where his legs and even his chest but they were also far more muscular than before.

"Hajime!" shouted Genma, leaping out of the way.

Chouji shocked the crowd by vanishing in a burst of speed, appearing in front of Kiba and burying a massive fist into the dog-boy's stomach, lifting him from the ground. Chouji's other arm was already moving, grabbing Kiba by his head in a massive paw so that he couldn't get away. He then continued to hammer his fist into Kiba's chest and stomach rapidly, each hit echoing through the arena. Then one of the hits caused Kiba to shatter into rock shards.

"Tsuchi Gatsuga!" shouted a voice from the ground, a giant twisted of sharpened earth spikes shot from the ground aiming for Chouji.

The large boy dodged the first pass and the even the second and third, but the four cut up his right side pretty effectively but not causing any really significant damage. He dodged the next pass and as soon as Kiba hit the earth to turn around, Chouji stomped hard on the ground. "Doton: Furue no Jutsu," he called out, even as the tremor passed through the entire arena.

Kiba and Akamaru both lost their balance when the earth shook the way it did, giving Chouji the opportunity he was looking for. His arms shot forward, one directed to each of them, magnifying in size several times until it easily eclipsed Kiba and Akamaru both in size.

Kiba cringed when the fist impacted with his body, he panicked when the fist kept moving with him pinned against the left fist while Akamaru was pinned against the right. He felt his body flatten rather suddenly and quite painfully when the arena wall stopped him and the fist both.

Chouji pulled back his arm, feeling very satisfied that the hit he just delivered would finish the fight.

"Ow," groaned a still standing Kiba as he stepped out a depression in the wall that roughly resembled him.

"Che," Chouji grunted in annoyance, he wouldn't last much longer, not if he kept burning through chakra the way he was.

"Guess, I don't have a choice," Kiba complained, reaching inside his jacket. When he pulled his hand back out he was holding a pair of gloves with very sharp claws that shined a bright white. "I was hoping to save these until the next round, but if I don't beat you here, there won't be a next round."

Up in the booth, Naruto frowned, he recognized the claws attached to Kiba's new gloves.

**Shiro Tsume – **A tough glove with three claws, each over a foot in length and harder than any steel forged in Konoha. Stats: 30-50 Damage. DUR 90/90.

"That son of bitch," whined Naruto. He was glad that Kiba was able to buy the gloves that Higurashi made from his crafting materials. He was less so that he might have to fight a Kiba armed with those claws and based on the way he saw Chouji breathing and his chakra fading it was almost guaranteed.

"Shikyaku no Jutsu," whispered Kiba, instantly becoming coated in Chakra only to vanish from view.

All Naruto saw were several gashes open up all over Chouji's body before the boy dropped to the ground in pain. Thankfully, Kiba ended it at that point with a swift chop to back of Chouji's neck rendering him unconscious if a bit scarred for his efforts.

"Winner, Inuzuka Kiba!" announced Genma.

"Hell yeah," said Kiba before he fell to his back breathing heavily.

"You done, kid?" asked a medic that came out to check Chouji over.

"Not even close, just need to catch my breath," Kiba answered. He looked around briefly to see how Akamaru was fairing. The little pup was limping over toward him, looking just as worn out and beat up but equally pleased by the victory.

"I've got to stop underestimating Kiba," groused Naruto, he enjoyed the fight greatly but now it was time for him to face a walking nightmare. He wasn't looking forward to this but he knew it was necessary.

"Sabaku Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto to the arena please," call Genma from the field below.

Naruto took a single breath and leapt over the railing separating the competitor's booth from the arena itself. He landed lightly and took his place where Genma motioned for him to stand.

Gaara seemed to be taking his time, something Naruto was very thankful for as it gave him more time to figure out how to stop the unstable jinchuuriki. The only thing he knew for certain is that he could not afford to hold back.

There was a loud strangled cry from the tunnel leading out to the arena floor drawing Naruto and Genma's attention. Naruto turned sharply to look, in the tunnel was Sasuke with the juin on his neck flaring and then retreating, desperately trying to fight past the iryonin attempting to take care of him.

"Naruto!" he yelled, even as the iryonin tried to calm him. "You bastard, I'll kill you!" Anything further was forestalled by a needle being stuck into Sasuke's neck, putting him to sleep for the foreseeable future.

"Che, sore loser," grumbled Genma, the senbon in his mouth moving from one side to the other in agitation.

"Try psychopath," muttered Naruto, feeling both worried for his teammate and angry at his teammate. Acting like that was not going to be good, hopefully none of the audience could hear Sasuke ranting in the tunnel.

Still, he watch as the iryonin worked to drag the now sedated Sasuke back into the small medical ward.

It was eerie to see the door to the room they were treating Sasuke in close and a pair of yellow eyes glowing in the darkness of the tunnel preceding Gaara's emergence into the light of day.

"I hope you're ready for him kid," said Genma, his words were spoken softly and without moving his lips.

"We're about to find out," Naruto replied softly, but unable to obscure moving his mouth, it was not a skill he'd learned or thought was necessary.

Gaara took his place across from Naruto, the red head looked completely emotionless, no frown or smirk, no sweat despite the hot sun beating down from above. It was very creepy.

"Hajime," called Genma, vanishing a second later, reappearing on the competitor's balcony.

"Don't suppose you'd just surrender?" asked Naruto, it couldn't hurt to ask. The sand bullets fired at him a second later did hurt, or would have if they had hit him instead of a clone. "It was just a question, no need to get all homicidal on me."

Homicidal was the right word for it as he had to rapidly substitute and replace clones like mad just to stay alive. Finally Naruto had to try to retaliate by throwing spread of [Shrapnel Kunai] at and around Gaara, hoping to slow him down if nothing else or at the very least cause him to pull back his sand a bit.

Gaara didn't flinch though. In fact, his sand became much more aggressive toward Naruto, forcing him to pick up speed just to stay ahead of it.

[Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu] was fired at sand wielder by a clone stationed high on the wall of the arena, hopefully out of range from retaliation. The mud ball didn't hit but it definitely distracted the target. Soon, there were a dozen clones up on the walls all firing mud balls at Gaara, keeping the sand busy so Naruto could try to formulate a plan. Unfortunately he didn't have any fighting information on Gaara, just that he used his sand for everything from attack to defense. Getting in close to him was extremely dangerous but he couldn't do enough damage at range given that his attacks didn't make it within even a meter of Gaara.

"Okay, time to try something dangerous," said Naruto, silently sending a small prayer to his parents as he activate [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail]. The red chakra enveloped him instantly, a single tail forming behind him seamlessly. It wasn't the bubbly mess that it looked like when he first developed the skill but a clean, crisp tail that was smooth and sleek mirroring the rest of the cloak that covered him. Now, he had less than fifteen minutes to win or things would turn really bad.

Gaara's eyes widened slightly, showing emotion for the first time in the fight as he saw cloak. And then for the first time in his life, he felt pain. Not a scratch or irritation but pulsing, throbbing, aching pain. The fist buried in the side of his face delivered that pain rather effectively.

Naruto felt vindicated ever so slightly when his fist hit Gaara's face, even if it felt like he was hitting a brick wall. Whatever it was that gave the Suna genin his stupid high defense also made it feel like he was hard as rock. Still, it was satisfying to see Gaara finally lose a chunk of HP, even if it was just twenty points out of six hundred and twenty, it was damage and based on the shocked expression on Gaara's face, it wasn't something he was prepared for.

After the punch sent Gaara careening across the arena floor, Naruto didn't hold still, he couldn't afford to, not with the timer running. He was right back to attacking Gaara, trying to break through the boy's defense. Finally he saw it, a small crack formed on Gaara's face and Naruto understood. He had turned the sand into an armor, an armor powered by a demon. It was no wonder that it was damn near impossible to break through. But it did give Naruto an idea, one he'd have to execute once he broke free of the unexpected sand wrapped around his ankle.

The Suna jinchuuriki was dazed, he was getting hammer on by someone he wanted very badly to kill but his mother wasn't protecting him. So with a raise of an arm he directed the sand through the pain to latch on to the Uzumaki. It pulled him off of Gaara and lifted him in the air before slamming him down, then lifting him again and slamming him down. Repeating the process, trying to make Naruto hurt, suffer as he did at his hands.

Naruto cringed as another [Chakra Reinforcement] was shattered on impact with the ground, glancing briefly at his current corruption.

**[Corruption: 44%]**

Every time Gaara's sand lifted him into the air he reapplied the skill, it was sucking down chakra fast but it was also preventing him from getting squished like a bug. He needed to do something about the sand holding his feet together. He'd been bound way too long and the time was still running.

It took a massive effort on his part but eventually he managed to reach into his pouch and pull out one of his newest Fuda but another swing and slam into the ground made him drop the thing.

**[Corruption: 66%]**

Fortunately, he still had a few clones out there that picked up on what he wanted them to do.

So it was a bewildered Gaara watched as one of the blonds clones picked up what looked like a normal explosive tag. But Gaara ignored it, an explosive tag would not break his hold, and yet right after the tag was place on the tendril of sand and activated the sand completely destabilized, all of the chakra he had in it was just gone, no longer within reach.

**[Corruption: 71%]**

Naruto was proud of his clone getting him free, he just wished the clone had waited until he was on the ground and not ten meters up in the air mid swing, the wall broke his fall and his [Chakra Reinforcement] again. Still, now that Gaara appeared confused about what happened, he had a plan. First he formed another dozen clones, then he pulled out his entire stack of Chakra Osaeru Grade 1, handing some of them to each clone.

"Let's get him," said Naruto, he looked at his corruption bar, he didn't have long left so this had to work or it was game over. Pushing as much speed as he could into his body, he shot past Gaara in a blur, sticking one tag to Gaara's shoulder.

Yet again, the young genin was bewildered by the mysterious fuda placed on him. More so when instead of exploding it just flared with chakra for only to cause his armor on his shoulder and upper arm and chest to fall away. And just like that, he finally understood, a quaver of fear shooting though him as the horde of blonds descended up on him, his sand lashing out but being destabilized a moment later thanks to those tags. Before he understood what was happening most of his Suna Yaroi had been stripped away.

Naruto appeared suddenly in front of Gaara, placing a tag directly on his forehead and activating it causing all of the sand in the arena to finally fall completely flat.

"No!" screamed Gaara, moving his arms, trying to will the sand to protect him. "No!"

"You're just like the rest of now, for the next hour your demon is completely inaccessible," crowed Naruto proudly. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to knock you out and enjoy my victory." A cloak enshrouded fist connected with Gaara's face in a spray of blood as the boy's nose both gave way and relieved him of consciousness at the same time effectively ending the fight.

**[Corruption: 83%]**

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" announced Genma, appearing between the pair.

"Yatta!" shouted Naruto in jubilation, shutting down the cloak as quickly as possible, thankfully it was only at 83%. He only gone beyond that in training with Jiraiya but it was nowhere even close to as intense as what he just went through with Gaara. He couldn't help but notice how drained he felt it was different from what he experienced while training. He was very careful to never go above 50% corruption except for early in his training. He would have been happy to keep it that way but fighting Gaara really didn't leave him any choice. Still, it was good to know he was able to mostly keep his wits about him in spite of the drastic drop in his wisdom while the cloak was active, he was sure that his [Gamer's Mind] helped out at least a little with that.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3**

**Successfully complete the third stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Defeat Uchiha Sasuke.**

**Defeat Sabaku Gaara.**

**Defeat Inuzuka Kiba**

**Defeat ?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Bury Sasuke up to his neck using [Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu]**

**Make Gaara bleed his own blood.**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

"I suggest you go rest, it will be a little bit before your next fight," Genma instructed him before motioning to the iryonin waiting in the tunnel to come collect Gaara.

"Thanks," grunted Naruto, feeling exhausted after that fight, leaving this time via the tunnel. He was happy for the long walk, it allowed him to get in some much needed stretching as he walked. He was less pleased however, when he reentered the competitor's booth to be met with a swinging Kiba, his first narrowly missing Naruto's face.

"What the fuck man?"

"You stole my family's technique," he shouted.

"What the shit are you talking about?" asked Naruto, sure the [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail] was similar but very different.

"You stole the 'Shikyaku no Jutsu' from us. You're going to pay for it with your life," Kiba growled more than a little irritable.

"You moron, it's not your damned 'Shikyaku no Jutsu'. I'm a kami damned jinchuuriki and that is what I can do with it. It just happens to be similar or did you not notice the tail or the fact that the cloak was red." So, blurting out his secret to Kiba probably wasn't the best decision he'd ever made but he wasn't going to let Kiba go an accuse him of stealing anything, least of all letting the mutt boy accuse him of stealing something he worked his ass off to learn and control.

"What the hell is a jinchuuriki?" demanded Kiba, grabbing the front of Naruto's jacket, one fist pulled back ready to strike.

"I'm like Gaara you idiot, I have a demon sealed inside me. If it use its chakra that's what happens," explained Naruto, starting to get really pissed off at Kiba's stupidity.

"Ha, yeah right," said Kiba.

"Did you not just watch me kick Gaara's ass?" asked Naruto incredulously. "Just ask your mom about it, tell I said she has my permission or something."

Kiba shoved Naruto. "Fine, I will but don't think I won't still kick your ass in the match."

"If you don't get disqualified for trying to hit me like that," taunted Naruto, causing Kiba to turn a bit pale.

"You wouldn't tell would you?"

"I probably should, you really didn't have a good reason to hit me after all. I mean, just how hotheaded can you be?"

"You asshole, even now you're trying to mess with my head?"

"Is it working?" asked Naruto, grinning slightly.

"No . . . jackass, and don't think I'm okay with you right now cause you better believe I'll be talking to my mom about that shit and you can bet your ass if it turns out you stole that technique . . . well, let just say they won't find enough of you to identify the body."

"Whatever, dog breath," said Naruto, waving the feral Inuzuka off. He wanted to watch the fight between Neji and Lee that was about to begin.

"This should be a good fight," said Kiba, somehow forgetting the anger he just displayed toward Naruto. Still, the glint in his eye told Naruto he wasn't ready to let it go yet.

"I hope so," said Naruto, a grin mirroring the grin Kiba now wore despite feeling a fair bit of anger toward Kiba at the moment but willing to hide it for now.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV35** Next Level: **28.13%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **8263/8263

**CP: **5704/5704

**STR: **134 (68.40) = 202.40

**VIT: **117 (709.25) = 826.25

**DEX: **134 (83.70) = 217.70

**INT: **107 (463.38) = 570.38

**WIS: **107 (107.54) = 214.54

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **489.00 (122.25) = 611.25

**SPD: **99 (171.50) = 270.50

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir** (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Inspirational Leader** (+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of), **Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)** Prepared 23:13:54.98** (+10% Damage to scouted opponents, -10% Damage from scouted opponents)

Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?

**Point: **11

**Ryo: **429650


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: Bad math you say? A reviewer questioned that when Naruto had the [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail] active was only suffering .25% corruption every 5 seconds. Herein lies the glitch in your math, at zero tails he suffers .25% corruption every 5 seconds, at one tail he suffers .50% corruption every 5 seconds. So by that math we have 100% / .50% = 200 * 5 seconds = 1000 seconds \ 60 seconds per minute = 16 minutes 42 seconds before he is completely engulfed by the Kyuubi. So, to get to the 83% corruption mark he only need to be in the one tail form for 13 minutes 49 seconds.

A/N2: So, did a lot of major rewriting of all the chapters up until now. Revised the status buffs a bit, switching out VIT for HP (1:10 ratio). Smoothed some of the grammar stuff

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

It was with a great deal of excitement that Naruto watched the arena floor where Lee and Neji had a standoff of wills, just waiting to see who made the first move. Naruto had his money on Lee making the first move but the fact he hadn't moved spoke to just how seriously the green clad youth was taking the fight.

As excited as he was for the fight to start, he could help but feel a bit sad that Neji wasn't still up there, he would love to have pulled the 'guess who just made fate my bitch . . . twice' card on him but that wasn't going to happen if Neji and Lee were going to spring into action fighting at any moment.

As it happened, Neji and Lee both moved in a singular blur of action. Neji's first attack easily being ducked by Lee and countered with a strike that may well have shattered its target's ribs if the Hyuuga hadn't easily wove around the punch attempting a counter of his own that Lee dodged just as smoothly.

Lee followed up Neji's counter with a series of kicks that if any had made contact would have ended the fight just then. The kicks were so powerful that Neji knew to dodge them and so fast he couldn't even attempt to counter, cloing the green clad youth's tenketsu.

"You cannot win," said Neji, finally creating some distance to evaluate his opponent. "You're a loser, Lee. You always have been, always will be."

Lee chose not to respond or react, he'd fought Neji too many times in the past during team sparring sessions to fall for the boy's taunting, as nasty and as potent as it may have been.

Neji frowned at seeing a lack of response from Lee. He hoped to be able to goad the boy into making a mistake but apparently Lee wasn't having it today. Instead, Neji was once again on the retreat, Lee was unbelievably faster today, so much so that Neji couldn't keep up, if not for his Byakugan and dexterity he'd have been flattened.

Naruto tried to focus on Lee's ankles to see if he was wearing his ankle weights but he couldn't get a read from his [Observe]. Lee looked faster than if he had the weights on but then again, his overall speed was a bit higher than it was in the prelims.

**Name: **Rock Lee

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV33** Next Level: **71.21%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **3930/3930

**CP: **20/20

**STR: **423

**VIT: ** 393

**DEX: **423

**INT: **20

**WIS: **30

**LUK: **10

**DEF: **150

**SPD: ** 387

**Status: **Genius of Hardwork (+5 STR &amp; +5 VIT &amp; +5 DEX per level, +100% increase to bonus stat gain), Chakra Deformity (-90% to CP), Tough (+50 STR, +50 VIT, +50 DEX)

"Man, what a boring fight," groused Kiba. "They just keep dodging each other."

Naruto rolled his eyes at Kiba's comment, it was really stupid. This fight was anything but boring. Just watching the skill with both of their taijutsu was beyond impressive. This fight was likely to end with whoever landed the first hit, Neji's Jyuuken vs. Lee's Goken.

Lee and Neji blurs of action once again, each doing everything they can to dodge and counter the other but neither landing a hit.

And then it happened, Neji landed a glancing hit on Lee's shoulder causing the pair to separate once again.

"You've lost," said Neji, smirking confidently.

Lee frowned. "I guess I have no choice then. Kaimon Kai, Kyumon Kai, Seimon Kai." With the last word his skin turned red.

Naruto's [Observe] instantly picked up on the ability giving him a very nice explanation of it.

**[Hachimon (Active/Passive) Lv57 Exp: 54.55% HP 100 per 5 seconds]**

The eight gates are eight specific tenketsu on a person's chakra pathway system. They limit the overall flow of chakra within a person's body. By undergoing intense training, one can learn how to open these gates allowing the user to surpass their own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to their own body.

Passively increases DEX by 25%.

Passively increases STR by 25%.

Passively increases SPD by 25%.

**Kaimon**

Additional 50% to STR when Active.

Additional 50% to DEX when Active.

Additional 50% to SPD when Active.

Additional 50 Damage per 5 seconds when Active.

Additional 10% chance of Crippling Injuries

**Kyumon**

Additional 75% to STR when Active.

Additional 75% to DEX when Active.

Additional 75% to SPD when Active.

Additional 100 Damage per 5 seconds when Active.

Regenerate 100% HP when Activated.

Additional 20% chance of Crippling Injuries

**Seimon**

Additional 100% to STR when Active.

Additional 100% to DEX when Active.

Additional 100% to SPD when Active.

Additional150 Damage per 5 seconds when Active.

Additional 30% chance of Crippling Injuries

**Shomon**

Additional 125% to STR when Active.

Additional 125% to DEX when Active.

Additional 125% to SPD when Active.

Additional 200 Damage per 5 seconds when Active.

Additional 40% chance of Crippling Injuries

**Tomon**

Additional 150% to STR when Active.

Additional 150% to DEX when Active.

Additional 150% to SPD when Active.

Additional 250 Damage per 5 seconds when Active.

Additional 10% chance of Death

Neji's eyes widened just slight before he arched backwards to dodge the nearly unseen kick.

Lee's first kick easily went over Neji due to the dodge, but with his new power and speed Lee was able to twist and flip over driving both of his feet into Neji's stomach. Neji's body his the ground causing a spider web of cracks to form underneath his body from the impact followed by blood and spittle being forced out of his mouth.

Even after that, Neji willed himself to keep fighting. Both of his hands moved in a blur to strike at Lee's legs while the boy still stood on him, unfortunately he met only air as Lee was gone again. He never saw the fist descending on his head knocking him out.

"Winner, Rock Lee!" announced Genma, signaling to the medical staff to come get Neji.

"Yosha!" shouted Lee, both arms in the air in celebration. A second later, he cried out in pain and collapsed, twitching. The damage he dealt to himself with just three gates open was extreme even for that short time.

"Damn!" said Kiba in appreciation.

"Yeah, no shit," added Naruto.

"So, I guess it's just you and me left for the whole thing. You ready to lose?" asked Kiba.

"We'll see, mutt," retorted Naruto, a hint of grin of excitement pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Kiba grinned before jumping the railing.

Naruto was just behind him as he went over the side.

Landing lightly, it was a short walk to the center of the field. Naruto looked down on Lee as the boy was carried out on a stretcher. He didn't look good. His status was very disconcerting.

**Status: Crippling Injuries** (Disabled)

Thirty seconds of three open gates and that was it. He was crippled, unable to be a shinobi ever again. It wasn't fair. To work as hard as Lee did only to lose everything for a single insignificant win. It may have been a personal victory but the cost was far too high. It also got Naruto wondering if he could do anything to heal Lee with his gamer ability.

"Hey, you paying attention?" asked Genma, tapping Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto didn't even realize he stopped walking to the starting line, he was too focused on the fading form of Lee and what he might be able to do to assist him.

"Huh, sorry, I'm good," said Naruto, pulling his gaze away from the tunnel and back toward the waiting Kiba.

"Okay boys, this might be the final match unless the medics can pull off a miracle for the green boy. That said, make this an exciting fight for the audience. Ready?"

Naruto and Kiba both nodded, not taking their eyes off the other.

"Hajime!" called Genma before he leapt clear.

Naruto opened up the fight immediately firing off a [Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu] while he was so close to Kiba and Akamaru. It didn't do much damage but it served to lift Kiba and Akamaru off their feet and tumbling backwards.

Kiba rolled a few times before finally getting his feet under him. As soon as the wind ended, he shot forward, the clawed blades of the Shiro Tsume gleaming in the sun. He made several swipes at Naruto just barely scratching him but not doing any damage thanks to Naruto's [Chakra Reinforcement] and [Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu] protecting him from harm.

With Kiba in so close it wasn't hard for Naruto to step inside the feral shinobi's guard and hammer a fist into his stomach then across his face.

Naruto wasn't prepared for Akamaru to bite him from behind.

Kiba smirked even after taking that punch the way he did. Akamaru did his part. The smirk changed quickly into a frown as the Naruto in front of him burst in a cloud of smoke. It was only sheer luck that Kiba jumped away from his current location just a Naruto's hands came up out of the ground in an attempt to pull the boy under.

Naruto came back to the surface after being unsuccessful only to be met by a splash of water hitting him from behind.

"What the hell?" asked Naruto, seeing Akamaru behind him shaking a leg before the little dog ran for Kiba. Then he smelled it, Akamaru just pissed on him.

"Dynamic Marking, success!" cheered Kiba a little.

"What the fuck, dude? That is not cool," complained Naruto. "Seriously, who the hell does that?"

"I'll have you know it's a legitimate technique," said Kiba. "It's going to make kicking your ass even easier."

Naruto frowned, Kiba wasn't boasting for no reason.

[Kuchiyose no Jutsu] summoned his two familiars.

"Yo," greeted Gamakichi.

"Hello!" cheered Gamatatsu. "Wow, look at all the people."

Gamakichi grimaced. "Bro, seriously, look around you. Can't you tell Naruto is in the middle of a fight and summoned us to help him out?"

"Really? We're going to fight?"

Naruto was suddenly wishing he'd only summoned Kichi but he had no idea what was going on with Kiba but he knew it was better to have them both. He quickly picked up Tatsu and set him on his head. "Kichi, get some range and provide support. Tatsu, stay put and do your job."

"What the shit is that?" called Kiba, pointing at the toads. "Since when do you have trained giant toads?"

"They're summons," said Naruto, grinning now. "I don't know what you're up to but I'm not going to just let you win."

"Ha, bring it frog boy. Let's do it Akamaru. [Inuzuka-Ryu: Jinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro]!"

There was a giant burst of smoke that obscured everything from view. Naruto didn't like that, he liked even less the sudden bloodlust that seemed to be emanating from within the smoke. The shadow of a giant two headed wolf made him feel even less comfortable.

"**[Garoga]"**

Naruto had to rapidly scramble out of the path of the giant white twister that came flying out of the cloud.

When the spin stopped Naruto was facing off with a giant two headed wolf that made him feel very small. Luckily, he was able to pick up both the transformation and the attack with his [Observe].

**[Inuzuka-Ryu: Jinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro (Active) Lv3 Exp: 13.32% CP: 250]**

A combination transformation where the user and their ninken become a single entity. It is a specialty of the Inuzuka clan, they fuse into a two-headed wolf, thus drastically increasing their size, and power.

Additional 250% to STR when Active.

Additional -50% to DEX when Active.

**[Garoga (Active) Lv2 Exp: 10.94% CP: 25]**

Only usable while [Inuzuka-Ryu: Jinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro] is active. This skills allows the user to have their body spin in a violent assault against the enemy. The excessively high speed of the rotation strips the user of their field of vision, but marking an enemy beforehand makes it possible to tail them with the sense of smell. Deals Tearing Damage 300-500 per rotation.

"Um, bro?" questioned Kichi from his spot up on the wall. "Any suggestions?"

"Oil," said Naruto, pointing not at the wolf but at the ground.

Kichi nodded, not that Naruto could see because he was focused on the Kiba-Akamaru hybrid giant ass wolf looking at him like he was a T-bone steak.

"**Ready to give up?"** asked Kiba-Akamaru.

"Not even close," said Naruto. He'd have been happy to activate [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail] and beat the crap out of Kiba but he still had way too much corruption to even risk using a little of it. So he had out smart him.

"**Don't say we didn't give you a chance."**

"I won't," said Naruto. He motioned with one hand for Kiba to come at him.

"**[Garoga]!"**

Naruto formed a quick set of handseals activating [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu] causing five walls to raise up in front of him. They wouldn't stop Kiba, probably wouldn't even slow him down, but they would obscure his vision more than it already was while the technique was active allowing Naruto to sink into the ground which should prevent the beast boy from tracking him despite being marked.

Underground, Naruto moved quickly to the other side of the arena emerging only part way. "Oi, muttly, over here," Naruto used [Taunt] to get the wolf's attention.

Kiba turned and launched into another [Garoga], what he didn't notice or pay attention to was a greenish puddle on the ground in front of Naruto courtesy of Gamakichi.

**[Gamayumaku no Jutsu (Active) Lv13 Exp; 67.99% CP: 25]**

A D-Rank ninjutsu. The user converts their chakra into an extremely slick oil and spits this out as a huge mass. When the oil touches the target, their entire body is covered, and it causes a loss of balance and grip. It is also chakra resistant so [Tree Climbing] will not be able to counteract it.

When he hit the oil, the vortex of the [Garoga] sucked the oil up into it causing his spin to actually go faster . . . so fast he was no longer able to stop until he impacted the arena wall rather harshly.

Naruto couldn't help but cringe when Kiba-Akamaru hit the wall as hard and as fast as they did. The arena walls were super reinforced by all manner of seals to prevent them from taking more than surface damage, having just a little give. That half of Kiba-Akamaru's health vanished on impact with the wall was not favorable to Kiba.

So it was while the pair slipped and slid from the oil they were now soaked with Naruto and Kichi began bombarding them with jutsu from range. Kichi attacked with [Suiton: Teppodama no Jutsu] and Naruto with [Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu], quickly and painfully reducing Kiba's hit points until in large burst of smoke the transformation was broken and Kiba and Akamaru separated having finally lost conscious.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" announced Genma, signaling for the medics for Kiba and a veterinarian for Akamaru.

"Yatta!" cheered Naruto, Kichi and Tatsu together. This time his victory was met by a cacophony of cheering from the crowd.

"Not bad, gaki," complimented Genma.

"So now what?"

"Well, Lee has ten minutes to come out here or he forfeits," answered Genma.

"Right, you guys can go back now, I'll summon you again if I need your help. Great job today."

"Thanks, Naruto-niichan," Tatsu replied. "Can I have some candy?"

Naruto chuckled and handed them both a handful of candy. They did well.

"Thanks, bro," said Kichi. "We were kind of bad ass, huh?"

"Yeah we were," answered Naruto. "I probably won't summon you again until tomorrow to train more so until then, enjoy the candy."

It was with a couple small puffs of smoke the pair vanished.

That left Naruto waiting for the results on Lee, results he already knew would prevent Lee from continuing on.

"Rock Lee is unable to continue," Genma announced once the time elapsed. "As such, the winner and tournament champion is Uzumaki Naruto!"

Once again the arena was filled with cheering. Naruto happily waved to the crowd, playing it up a bit for their sake, after all, he was trying to attract clients to the village.

"The Hokage will be down shortly to congratulate, it's a formality but be sure you show proper respect. Once that's done, the Hokage will meet you in his office after he closes out the chuunin exams and thanks everyone for attending, including the Kazekage."

"Will I meet the Kazekage?"

"No, he'll remain in the booth. If his shinobi had won then he would be closing the exams and congratulating his shinobi," explained Genma. "One more time, be on your best behavior."

Naruto nodded in understanding. He didn't want to embarrass the old man.

**Quest completion awarded: 500000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3**

**Successfully complete the third stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Defeat Sasuke.**

**Defeat Gaara.**

**Defeat Kiba.**

**Win the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3 Tournament.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Bury Sasuke up to his neck using [Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu]**

**Make Gaara bleed his own blood.**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**

Naruto grinned happily that he'd completed the quest. It was worth a lot of experience too. But best of all, it meant he survived the Chuunin Selection Exam, all of his friends survived despite all the hidden stuff going on behind the scenes.

It didn't take long for the old man to show up, smiling proudly as he looked at Naruto.

"Well done, my boy," he said happily when he got close.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi gave Naruto a slightly surprised look when he'd been greeted so formally and with such respect. A quick look at Genma told him all he needed to know that the jounin had forewarned Naruto to be on his best behavior.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great pleasure I congratulate Genin Uzumaki Naruto for a splendid display of both skill and tactics. Congratulations young man, I expect you to continue to prove yourself as the exceptional shinobi everyone here has witnessed today. Well done, Naruto-kun, well done."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama, I promise I will do my best to always protect the 'Will of Fire'." Naruto was surprised that his simple statement was met with such cheering that the entire arena shook with approval.

Sarutobi couldn't help but smirk a bit. The boy had outdone himself, such a perfect comment.

"Genma-san, if you please escort our young champion to my office while I finish things here," ordered the old man.

Genma motioned for Naruto to follow him into the tunnel again. So he followed, it surprised Naruto a bit when they didn't go back outside the arena but instead when down some stairs into a tunnel system.

"What's up with this?"

"Evacuation tunnels," answered Genma. "We use them occasionally to move around unseen, like in the case of the tournament winner, we don't need anyone that lost money betting against you coming after you in drunken anger. Or worse . . . fangirls." He shuddered slightly when he said the last one.

"Me? Fangirls? Yeah right," laughed Naruto.

"You have no idea, kid. Just wait, you'll see," warned Genma, still leading the way.

It didn't take long for them to emerge from the tunnels somewhere in the basement of the Hokage tower, Naruto recognized the paint on the walls even if he'd never been in this part the building before. After that, it was a matter of minutes before they entered the old man's office.

"Have a seat, I'm sure Hokage-sama will be along shortly." Genma left right after.

Naruto had been in the old man's office many times, usually when he was in trouble but occasionally just to see the old man for a visit, although recent most of his visits lately had been for mission assignments.

The open door to his private library was very tempting to investigate, especially as it was unguarded . . . minus the ANBU that were no doubt hidden in the room ready to attack at a moment's notice. Still . . . tempting.

Then Naruto had a thought, something that might be fun to try just once. So he meandered around the old man's desk before pulling the chair out. He tentatively pressed on the seat with his fingers to see how much cushion it really had and it was soft. Very soft and supple leather with plenty of padding. There wasn't much remorse in sitting in that chair. It was too comfortable to pass up. It was an experience that Naruto had never had, to sit in something so comfortable, so soft, so . . . awesome. Naturally he had to let himself relax into the chair, even being so daring as to put his feet up on the desk.

"I could get used to this," he commented to the empty room.

"Oh, could you know?" asked a soft voice in his ear.

Naruto shot up out of the seat, vaulted the desk, and blurred in motion toward the door, arming himself as he went, his heart beating rapidly. Finally he turned to face his attacker only to see the old man barely stifling a laugh as he sat comfortably in his chair. "Not cool, old man!"

Finally Sarutobi couldn't hold it in any longer and let of some long mirthful guffaws of amusement. "Oh, Naruto-kun, my boy. That was too perfect. I think I see now why you enjoyed pulling pranks so much."

"Yeah, well, you do realize you just declared prank war against me?" asked Naruto.

"You're welcome to try but I wouldn't recommend it," warned the old man, still smiling a bit. "So, you won. You did well in winning too. So, what's next?"

"I thought you were so supposed to tell me?"

"I suppose," said the old man. "So, it will take a few days for the all the voting to be tallied before any decisions are made in regards to promotions. In the meantime, you're free to celebrate with your friends, I have a few jounin out collecting them. They should be along shortly."

"Cool, thanks. How is Lee doing? Or Sasuke for that matter?"

"Lee is intensive care. Sasuke is under observation in the hospital, we're not sure how much damage using that seal did to him. So, for obvious reasons they will not be joining you."

"Is everyone else okay?"

"Some bumps and bruises but they are fine, though I imagine Kiba-kun may be a bit sour with you."

"Yeah, the mutt had it coming. He's got a big mouth and he's an ass. I may have told him I was a jinchuuriki while I was so pissed off."

"That was rather foolish, can he keep his mouth shut?"

"I don't know. I told him to ask his mom about it. He just went at me about stealing his family technique because it looks very slightly similar to the [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail]. It was admittedly stupid but . . . I figure it's time I trust my friends. Especially if I'm going to use its power in the future. They need to be aware. Shikamaru and Chouji both know and they don't care, neither does Karin."

"If you think it's the right decision then I will support you."

"Just one caveat, Sasuke can never know, I don't want him to ever know anything about me. I don't trust him and you probably shouldn't either. There is something wrong with that guy."

"That seal is-"

"It's not just the seal. Even before the seal he was unstable. I don't trust him."

"I will have a more thorough evaluation done."

"Make sure it's done by someone you trust, not someone that is just going to kiss his ass because he's the last Uchiha."

"Have a little faith in me, Naruto-kun. I'll take care of it," said Sarutobi.

Naruto studied him for a minute before relenting. "Anyway, how did I really do in those fights?"

"You were nothing short of brilliant. I was especially impressed with how you handled Gaara, it's a tough feat to beat a jinchuuriki so handily."

Naruto couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, that was kind of cool, wasn't it? He was tough too with all that sand."

"A very dangerous opponent indeed," said Sarutobi, opening a drawer taking out his pipe. Taking a minute to pack it and light it. After he lit it and took a few puffs. "So, do you plan to tell them about your gamer ability?"

"Some of them maybe, not today anyway. Why? Do you think I should?"

"Tell them, don't tell them, it's your decision. Just be sure you can live with the consequences."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully. "I don't think telling them all at once is a good idea but maybe start to include them one at a time, you know?"

"Again, your choice."

Any further discussion was forestalled by a knock on the door.

"Enter," called Sarutobi toward the door.

The doors opened with Kakashi leading the way in. He was followed by Sakura, Karin, Asuma, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Kurenai, Hinata, Shino, and finally Kiba.

"Hey everyone," greeted Naruto, smiling from ear to ear.

There was several congratulations, pats on the back, and a few jibes from Kiba.

"Yeah, the brat did good, but that's enough pumping up his ego," ordered a voice from the window.

"Ero-Sennin, shut up you jerk. Let me enjoy this," snapped Naruto, glaring at the pervert.

"Damn it, stop calling me that in front of people."

"Why? You are perverted hermit, why would I call you anything else?"

"Gaki, I will kick your ass," warned Jiraiya.

"That's enough, Jiraiya. Let the boy enjoy his day," Sarutobi intervened.

"Bah, stingy old man, interrupting my fun," complained Jiraiya, still grinning a little anyway.

The assembled group mostly looked on in surprised that Naruto, Jiraiya and the Hokage were all joking around like that.

"You're one to talk," grumbled Naruto.

"Anyway, we brought you all here for two reasons. First, you were invited so that you could join Naruto in celebration for winning the tournament. Second, Naruto would like to share a little information with his friends and maybe answer some questions. Now, with regard to this second issue, let me be very clear, this is very secret information. If you talk about it, you're like to find yourself and whoever you talked to dead. I hope you all understand the severity of this?"

There we a few nods from those assembled while a few swallowed nervously.

"However, if you do not want to know then you are free to wait outside," the old man offered as a final note.

It took about thirty minutes to explain what a Jinchuuriki is and just how that impacts Naruto and several other details and questions. Naruto didn't say anything about his parents despite a couple of questions about it and then he avoided anything that even approached his gamer ability. When it was all said and done, the group left to find food and celebrate properly.

It was near midnight when Naruto got home, it was a very fun evening.

Naruto was happy to find his bed and just crash for an evening. He closed his eyes, ready for sleep to embrace him when there was a faint popping sound from outside of his apartment. Then there was a slight tremor followed by a louder pop which preceded a fiercer tremor.

The sound of sirens blaring suddenly snapped Naruto's eyes wide open. Without a second delay he was up and out his front door. He could see fire in the distance illuminating part of the village. He was shook by another explosion, this one much closer to his apartment building, so he was quick to run up the wall to the rooftop. He could see another fire burning and now he could see some shadows moving in the fire.

**Quest Alert: Save Konoha.**

**The village is under attack, do everything in your power to protect both the village and its citizens.**

**Objectives:**

**Gather a team to assist you in defending the village.**

**Safely escort 50 civilians to safety.**

**Defeat 20 members of the invading force.**

**Defeat Shukaku.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 1000000 Exp**

**250000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: Destruction of the Konoha.**

**Imprisonment, torture, and death.**

"No pressure then," growled Naruto, tapping the accept button.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10 increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV35** Next Level: **69.22%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **8263/8263

**CP: **5704/5704

**STR: **134 (68.40) = 202.40

**VIT: **117 (359.25) = 476.25

**DEX: **134 (83.70) = 217.70

**INT: **107 (113.38) = 220.38

**WIS: **107 (107.54) = 214.54

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **489.00 (122.25) = 611.25

**SPD: **99 (171.50) = 270.50

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir** (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Inspirational Leader** (+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of), **Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)** Prepared 24:00:00.00** (+10% Damage to scouted opponents, -10% Damage from scouted opponents)

Uzumaki Naruto is the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?

**Point: **11

**Ryo: **429650

**Quest Alert: Find a trainer to prepare you for Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Select a trainer to train you in preparation for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Find someone willing to train you for the finals**

**Pass the test given by prospective trainer.**

**Accept the prospective trainer.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Convince one of the prospective trainers to tutor you in addition to your primary trainer.**

**Completion Award: 100000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**No assistance in preparing for the finals.**

**Quest Alert: Preparation t-minus 30:00:00:00.00**

**Train harder than you have ever trained before to prepare for the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Kuchiyose no Jutsu]. ***

**Learn [Chakra To]. ***

**Learn [Futon Affinity]. ***

**Learn 3 futon jutsu.**

**Learn 2 doton jutsu.**

**Earn 10 levels to [Fuinjutsu]. ***

**Earn 5 Levels.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Earn 10 Levels.**

**Learn 1 A-Rank or higher futon jutsu.**

**Learn 1 B-Rank or higher doton jutsu.**

**Earn 25 levels to [Fuinjutsu].**

**Earn 25 levels to [Kuchiyose no Jutsu].**

**Gain 1 Toad Familiar. ***

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

'**Prepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

'**Underprepared' status buff for the day of the finals.**

**Quest Alert: Information is Power**

**Gather Intelligence on your potential opponents for the final round of the exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Learn [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gain 50 levels to [Toton Jutsu].**

**Gather intelligence on your first opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Gather intelligence on at least three other potential opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Gain 75 levels to [Toton Jutsu]**

**Gather intelligence on all potential opponents of the third round without being caught.**

**Completion Award: 500000**

**100000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 100000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3**

**Successfully complete the third stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.**

**Objectives:**

**Defeat Sasuke.**

**Defeat Gaara.**

**Defeat Kiba.**

**Win the Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 3 Tournament.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**Bury Sasuke up to his neck using [Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu]**

**Make Gaara bleed his own blood.**

**Avoid [Dynamic Marking].**

**Heal Lee allowing him to continue competing.**

**Completion Award: 500000 Exp**

**50000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 10000 Exp**

**Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam**


	31. Chapter 31

A/N: Yes, I still live. Real life is a bitch, I needed some time to catch some things up and shift some other things around.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

Naruto was looking around his building, trying to get his bearings on where he needed to go and where he was most needed.

"Naruto," called Karin, popping up over the wall at the edge of the rooftop. "What's going on?"

"We're under attack," he answered simply, sending her an invite immediately.

"What do we do?"

"We find the other rookies, then we go to war and kick the ass of whoever was dumb enough to attack my home." Naruto's voice had a clear edge of anger to it, but then who could blame him. This situation would make anyone angry.

Karin nodded silently. "I-"

"Find the other rookies, Karin," ordered Naruto, interrupting her.

Karin nodded once again then closed her eyes. After a moment of silence.

"Tenten-san is closest, followed by Sakura-san," said Karin, opening her eyes looking to the northwest.

Naruto nodded, Karin was looking directly toward Higurashi's shop. With a burst of chakra Naruto and Karin vanished from the roof in a burst of speed, hopping from one roof to the next.

They stopped just across from Higurashi's shop, the windows appeared to be barricaded with lots of sharp pointy objects sticking out just waiting to impale any shinobi stupid enough to get too close.

"So do we knock?" asked Karin.

Naruto formed a clone and sent it down to street level, arms raised. "Yo, Higurashi-san, Stabby-chan, you guys here?"

"Naruto, that you my boy?" called Hiten from inside.

"Yeah."

"Prove it, what was the first thing I ever sold you?"

"Some armor, olive and black jacket and black pants," replied the clone.

"It's him," said Hiten, to someone inside, probably Tenten.

Suddenly the ground under the clone opened and it fell into a tunnel before the ground above it closed up without a seam.

"Yo, Naruto, what's up?" asked Tenten, grinning. Her face was barely illuminated by the glow of a lantern.

"Just a clone, boss is up on the roof across the street."

"So he sent you as the sacrificial lamb in case we didn't believe you were who you claimed to be?"

"Exactly. Anyway, trying to gather a team, there are a lot of people out there that need help. You want to join us?"

"Dad, you good here on your own?"

"I'm fine, go do your job," called back Hiten.

"Right, then, I'll dispel to let boss know," said the clone only to have Tenten stab him.

Naruto blinked at the rush of memories no matter how short lived the clone was.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Naruto, once Tenten finally joined him and Karin on the roof.

"Don't call me 'Stabby-chan' ever again or I'll cut you," she replied, smiling sweetly through her statement.

"Right, gotcha," said Naruto. He took a second to consider if he should invite Tenten to his team with the game system. It was a risk but it might be a bigger risk not to invite her. "I'm going to add you to . . . a support genjutsu."

"A what-what now?" asked Tenten.

Naruto didn't feel the need to repeat himself so he invited Tenten.

"Gah, what the hell is that?" she questioned, scrambling backwards a little only to have the floating blue window follow her.

"I told you, it's a special genjutsu type thing," he said. "Basically, it allows you to treat the world like a video game. So touch the 'accept' and lets go get as many of my friends as we can. We'll help as many civilians and shinobi as we can along the way."

Tenten tentatively reached out and tapped the button then blinked a few times. "What exactly does this do?"

"Come on, I'll explain on the way. Sakura is still close, right?"

"Yeah, she's just that way. I think she's in trouble though, her chakra is draining fast," said Karin.

The group moved fast to find Sakura, Naruto doing his best to briefly explain how the 'Gamer Genjutsu' worked. When they found her she was trying to use medic jutsu on someone, tears falling from her eyes as she worked.

Karin quickly moved ahead to join her and help as much as she could.

"We'll protect them while they work," said Naruto, glancing at Tenten.

A solemn nod was the only reply needed.

"She's stable, Sakura. We need to move her," said Karin, stopping her jutsu.

Sakura barely nodded, tears still flowing.

When the two girls stepped away, Naruto recognized the woman Sakura was treating as her mother.

Naruto invited Sakura to the group finally then formed a few clones to carry Sakura's mother.

The group moved quickly to the hospital, luckily there was no trouble from the ANBU surrounding the place, making sure that no one unsavory was able to get through.

Once inside, Mebuki was quickly taken by one of the iryonin and rushed out of sight.

"Do you want to stay here, Sakura?" asked Naruto, trying to be thoughtful.

She shook her head. "My dad is still out there. He distracted the Suna-nin told mom and I to run. I didn't know that my mom had been hurt until she collapsed back there. I should have stayed to help him . . . I should have . . ."

"It's okay, we'll go help him now," said Naruto.

"Yo, Naruto," called Kiba, walking in with Shino and Hinata. Between him and Shino they were helping a limping and bloody Kurenai into the hospital.

"You guys okay?"

"Yeah, thanks to Kurenai-sensei," Kiba answered solemnly.

"Is she okay?"

"She is fine, you overprotective brats," complained Kurenai. There was a bloody gash on her forehead and few slices along her right side from shoulder to ankle.

"Ano, sensei, you need to get some treatment," stuttered Hinata, nervously.

"I know, and I would have gotten here eventually," she argued, snapping a little at Hinata.

Naruto pulled out a stack of Shosen Fuda and start applying them to the various cuts on the jounin, seeing as she probably would get help for a while given her injuries were somewhat minor to many of those just starting to come in.

"Those seals are rather handy," complimented Kurenai.

"I do my best," said Naruto.

**You've impressed Yuuhi Kurenai greatly, your reputation increases by 1000 points. You are now Friendly.**

Naruto ignored the message, subtly closing it without drawing much attention.

"Leave me with some of those, I'll finish up," said Kurenai. "For now, all of you Genin need to get back out there and assist with evacuating the civilians. Naruto, you're in charge. Kiba, Shino and Hinata, I expect you to follow orders. And Naruto, you'd better keep them safe."

Naruto handed her ten more fuda as requested. "I'll keep them safe," he promised.

"Let's get moving, people's lives are at risk and the longer we laze about here the more of them end up dead." Naruto gave them a moment to accept what he said before motioning for them to follow him outside.

"Now, I'm going to add you three to my support genjutsu," said Naruto, once outside.

"What is a 'support genjutsu'?" asked Shino, his head cocked slightly to the side.

"This," said Naruto, silently sending each of them an invite.

"Curious," said Shino, reaching out and tapping the button. "I suppose this emulates a video game user interface. How interesting."

Hinata was a bit timid about it, even activating her Byakugan in an attempt to see through it without any success. Finally she gently tapped the floating button.

"Ha, this is awesome," said Kiba, tapping the button immediately, grinning broadly. "Who knew you'd be able to do something like this."

"Dude, really? Even after I kicked your ass, you're still going to talk down on me like that?" asked Naruto, more than a little annoyed. "You know what, never mind, forget it. There are more important things going on tonight Kiba, so fall in line and follow orders."

Kiba sobered a bit. "You're right, not the time for this."

"Good, now, our mission is to evacuate as many civilians as possible. The priority is getting anyone trapped behind enemy lines out first and then work in toward the city center. Is that clear?"

A series of nods followed.

"Good plan, Naruto," said a lazy drawl stepping out of the shadows followed by his team.

Naruto grinned and sent them all an invite, even Ino.

"What the hell is this?" she all but scream.

"A support genjutsu," replied Naruto. "Just touch the accept button. I'll explain how it works on the way. Shikamaru, set up our formation and run us through some possible scenarios for where we're going."

"Troublesome," complained the young man. "Chouji, Naruto, and Kiba you lead the group. Hinata, I want you on Naruto's hip at all times, if you see anything with your Byakugan, you tell him immediately. Karin, Sakura, you follow directly behind them, keep them alive. Shino, Ino, and myself will follow them and provide range support and damage as needed. That leaves Tenten taking a trail position, stay high and in the shadows as best you can. On a cloudy night like tonight there will be plenty of places to hide so pay special attention to Karin and Hinata as they are probably going to sense or see anyone that you can snipe for us.

"As to combat itself, it is very unlikely with the sensors we have that anyone will be able to sneak up on us. That means we can enjoy attacking them head on without worrying about being ambushed. Ideally we want to avoid combat all together, our mission is to evacuate trapped civilians, however we can't ignore the fact that it will probably happen. We will be forced to fight, probably just chuunin and genin. The jounin will be engaging other jounin, they'll be the ones making the biggest push into the village while the chuunin are trying clean up any civilians or injured shinobi, leaving their genin squads running supplies in and any wounded out.

"The most troublesome thing, we can't allow any injured shinobi to escape. We can't afford for them to get treatment and rejoin the fight. It's a pain in the ass and I know none of you want to but we don't have a choice. By the same token, their genin can't be allowed to complete their missions, they can be killed or captured, just be mindful or the situation."

"We're not in a good position to take prisoner, why? Because we will be escorting civilians, easy and tempting targets for any genin, captured or not," offered Shino.

"I don't like it, but I agree with Shino," said Naruto, frowning. He never liked taking lives, even if he'd done it a few times now, it just didn't sit well with him.

"Anyway, from the little intelligence I've gathered since we headed here, we're being invade by Suna and Oto. So be wary of Futon jutsu and the mishmash of the Oto-nin, I don't know if they have any kind of affinity."

"Sound," said Naruto. "Those genin in the exam, they used sound based techniques. Well, mostly. It's something at least."

"Okay, so Kiba and Akamaru, be mindful of that, we don't want you to end up injured unnecessarily," Shikamaru added. "Any questions before we go?"

"Why are you and Naruto in charge?" asked Ino.

"Kurenai-sensei put Naruto-san in charge, why? It is very likely he will be promoted to Chuunin rank with the completion of the exams thus meaning he is capable of leading a squad of shinobi." Shino's explanation was blunt and to the point, even as odd as his speech pattern was.

Ino nodded once. "Okay, so how does this 'support' genjutsu work?"

"I'll explain on the way, we're heading toward Sakura's neighborhood first, it's mostly civilians living there and we know that there has been some skirmishing there." Naruto jumped up to the nearest rooftop followed by the other genin, leading the way.

"We need to move to our left, there are four jounin in combat to the right," stuttered Hinata softly.

Naruto nodded and made the turn as Hinata recommended. It took a while for them to weave through the village, stopping occasionally to clear out a building that was close to the fighting. When they did, they would have to back track until they were beyond any combat areas to send the civilians to the shelters at the base of the Hokage monument. It was slow progress but necessary, especially with fighting occurring so nearby.

Finally after almost an hour they were able to get into the more active areas, the first place they check was near Sakura's home, all they found was a dead Suna-nin.

"That's the one that attacked us, so my dad is still alive," she said in relief.

"That's good, any signs of life in the area?" asked Naruto, looking to Karin and Hinata.

"Ano, see some civilians over there," said Hinata, her already light complexion paling.

"What is it?"

"They are being dragged out of their home by some Oto shinobi," said Hinata, deactivating her Byakugan and closing her eyes.

"Karin, lead us in," said Naruto, it was obvious Hinata saw something more than unpleasant.

It took less than a minute to find the attackers and less than that for the full force of Naruto's team to descend upon them like locusts.

"Sakura, Karin, cover the women and prepare them to move," ordered Naruto. "Everyone else, form a perimeter while our medics work."

"There is a child still inside the house, it looks like his mother was able to hide him before . . ." said Hinata. "I'll go get him."

It didn't take long before the group was ready to move again.

"Hinata, do you see any other civilians nearby?"

"Two houses over, there are two children, both hiding but the parents are . . . gone."

"Kiba, I want you and Akamaru to get those kids. Make sure cover their eyes when you bring them out."

Kiba nodded solemnly, moving ahead quickly to accomplish the task.

"So many people . . . how could anyone do this?" asked Ino.

"Greed, hate, fear, any of these things could lead to war," answered Shikamaru.

"There is a group of Shinobi heading right for us," Karin added. "I think they may have a sensor with them because they were heading west of us before suddenly turning and coming right for us."

"So an ambush is pointless," said Shikamaru. "We'll have to meet them head on. Sakura, Hinata, Shino and Chouji, stay with the civilians, protect them. Work on getting them out of this area and anyone else you can find along the way. We'll rejoin you as soon as we can."

"Okay, so the group coming for us is most likely made up of chuunin from what I can sense and there are four of them. There is one up on the roof running above them while the other three are running between the buildings and alleys," explained Karin. "I'm not sure about anything else."

"You heard the lady, let's go say hello," ordered Naruto. "Tenten, take out the one on the roof, he's most likely a spotter. Kiba, Akamaru, use that Garoga thing as soon as they are insight, you might get lucky and hit one of them but at the very least you'll separate them. Shika, stay with Kiba, he might need some time to recover once his technique ends, you two will work together to take out the one that ends up closest two you. Sakura, Ino, tag team whoever ends up closest to us. That will leave me and Karin cleaning up whoever is left."

Wordlessly, everyone moved to follow through with Naruto's plan. Kiba and Akamaru transformed into the giant two headed wolf and led the way. If the situation hadn't been so serious the almost comical look on the chuunin's faces when they turned the corner to see them would have made them all laugh themselves to death.

"**[Garoga]!"** shouted Kiba-Akamaru, instantly becoming twister of death and destruction. They tore down the narrow street ripping up the stone of the roadway as they passed, successfully causing the invaders to separate. Then one of the fool's tried to attack the twister, leaping at it only to be shredded within seconds of attempting his attack.

Shikamaru stayed close behind Kiba so that when they got to the other side of the shinobi, the group was caught between them.

**Shabu Yoraku Lv 29**

**Dari Baku Lv 31**

Were the names of the two Naruto could see, he could vaguely hear the clanks and clangs of steel above him. Tenten had obviously engaged.

"Fucking kids!" shouted Yoraku. "We were chasing after some fucking kids?"

"Shut up, Yoraku! Those kids just killed, Rangu. Don't underestimate them."

"You fucking pusy, Baku! I'll kill them all myself," raged Yoraku. The man started to charge forward only to suddenly slow, his eyes turning vacant for a moment.

Baku acted quickly, throw a shuriken at Yoraku, hitting him in the arm and snapping him out of the Genjutsu Sakura was attempting to place.

"You asshole, what was that for?"

"You almost got caught in a genjutsu," snapped Baku. "Now fucking pay attention."

Yoraku snarled before turning to focus on the problem at hand.

"Yo, dumbasses," called Naruto, drawing both of their attentions. "If you're done bickering, I'd like to kill you now."

"Ha!" shouted Yoraku. "As if some wet behind the ears brat is go-"

Anything Yoraku was going to say further was cutoff when a shadow clone burst from the ground and jammed a kunai into the back of his head, killing him instantly.

"Sakura, Ino, go up and help Tenten, we can handle this guy," ordered Shikamaru.

"Che," Baku clicked his tongue. "Some fucking kids, huh? Well, I guess I'll have to take you kids seriously."

"It's already too late," said Shikamaru, smirking as his face was illuminated by a bit of moonlight peeking through the cloud coverage.

Naruto understood as did Kiba, both of them rushed forward. Naruto with his chakra-to in hand and Kiba with Shiro Tsume. The pair passed on opposite sides of Baku, Kiba's claws gutting him and Naruto's knives slitting his throat.

Baku died within seconds from the blood loss.

Tenten, Ino and Sakura all dropped down from the rooftops just as the fight ended.

"Piece of cake," said Tenten, smiling happily.

"You get way too much joy out of stabbing people," commented Ino.

"Yeah, so?"

"Let's go, we need to catch up with the others," ordered Naruto, he was in no mood to joke around.

Naruto and his group rejoined the genin that were escorting the civilians within a minute, easily guiding them out of the area. It seemed there was a lull in the fighting in the area that or the fighting had migrated to another area.

"Naruto, this area is empty, I can't sense anyone else in the area," said Karin.

"So it's fully evacuated then?"

"Or there is just no one left alive," she replied sadly.

"Okay, then we move on to the next area," ordered Naruto. "Where do you sense the most civilian signatures remaining?"

"That way," she answered pointing east, directly toward the area the Suna delegation was residing.

"I was afraid of that," said Naruto. "Okay guys and girls, when we get to that area it is probably going to get really dangerous. Gaara is probably over there and if he is I'll have to fight him again."

"So, can't you just use your seals again?" asked Kiba.

"I'm certainly going to try. That said, once he and I start fighting, all of you need to continue with the mission. Shikamaru's in charge, he'll get you all out of this mess alive. Understood?"

There was no argument from his friends, they understood the situation. Saving lives was the mission.

"I'm staying with you," said Sakura bluntly. "You might need someone to heal you as you fight."

Naruto frowned and would have argued but the look on her face was enough for Naruto to know she was completely serious. "Fine, but you keep your distance and be safe."

Sakura nodded.

"Right then, let's move out," ordered Naruto, taking the lead and moving the group forward.

"Stop," called Hinata, when the group was still a block away from the target area.

"What is it?"

"I don't see a way through," she replied, stuttering slightly. "There is fighting going on all around us, but especially in front of us."

"Troublesome," groused Shikamaru. "Can you see any favorable match ups? Any groups that are likely to overwhelm the invading shinobi that if we were to provide even a little assistance it would get us through?"

"There is a group of ten chuunin and a jounin fighting six chuunin and two jounin over there but I'm not sure who will win that one," she said pointing to their left. "Then are two ANBU over there fighting one jounin," she pointed to her right.

"We assist the ANBU," said Naruto. "Don't attack unless you're certain you'll succeed. Use ranged attacks only and for kami's sake, don't hit the ANBU. After we help the ANBU, we can possibly get them to help that larger group."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru complained yet again. "Okay, if we're going to do this then let's be smart about it. Number one, we don't get close to the enemy. Number two, we don't get close to the enemy. Number three, Ino, don't you dare try to take over the enemy, we can't afford to carry around dead weight if you miss or worse take over one of the ANBU and get them killed. Four, Hinata, I want you with Tenten while we do this. You need to make sure no one can sneak up on us. Finally, five, don't hold anything back."

"Okay, we'll use a two prong attack to try and catch them between us. Naruto, Sakura, Shino, and Kiba, you'll take the left prong. Ino, Chouji, Karin and I will take the right prong."

"You heard the man," said Naruto. "Let's go before someone finds us and decides they want to kill us."

The group split into their three small teams with Tenten and Hinata staying where they were, the later keeping her Byakugan active and watching.

Naruto lead his group through the alley keeping to the left of the ANBU pair. Once they were directly below the fight, he signaled a stop then began a silent countdown with his fingers. As soon as his fist closed ending the count down the group leapt up to the roof top.

**Neko Lv?**

**Tora Lv?**

**Baki Lv?**

Naruto instantly recognized Yugao's purple hair despite her name and level being hidden by her ANBU mask, the other ANBU might have been Hayate but there was no easy way to know, not that it mattered.

[Futon: Kaze no Yaiba no Jutsu] instantly flew from Naruto's finger tips at Baki while his teammates did their best to throw kunai, spit water bullets, rock bullets, or fireballs at the surprised jounin.

Baki's surprise was short lived as he was quick to get out of the path of the slow moving jutsu and directly into the path of the ANBU. The man was forced onto the defensive as the ANBU pair renew their assault on the jounin, swords clashing regularly.

The Suna jounin hammered a kick into Tora's chest knocking him to the ground. He then ducked an over exaggerated slice from Neko that would have taken off the man's head if it connected. Baki rushed forward toward the downed ANBU looking to finish the man off when he suddenly lost balance as the entire roof began shaking.

Naruto wobbled a little from the shaking rooftop doing his best not to fall off or fall down. A quick glance across the rooftop showed a giant Chouji foot stomping. It served to save Tora's life.

Once the tremor ended, the fight renew between the jounin and the ANBU.

Baki was certainly showing some annoyance on his face if the sneer was anything to go by. He flicked his fingers toward the interlopers in an effort to get them out of the way only to have his attack stopped when the blonde genin imitated the same motion followed by a loud screeching sound as wind met wind cancelling each other out.

The jounin suddenly froze as he felt something pierce his side. He looked down in horror to see a blade sticking out the left side of his stomach.

"You should have stayed to make sure I died," whispered the ANBU in his ear.

Baki lashed out with own sword only to have it blocked by Neko's blade.

Neko's parry easily knocked aside the attack on her partner. She followed up with a quick flick of her blade cutting off the Suna jounin's fingers and causing the blade to fall to the rooftop, clattering uselessly and completely out of Baki's reach.

Tora jerked his blade out sideways from Baki's gut opening the man up, he then drove the blade back in severing the man's spine, killing him instantly. He finally kicked his back pulling the blade free once more and allowing the jounin to fall to the roof.

Naruto couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when the fight ended.

"Genin, attend," ordered Neko, harshly.

The twelve Genin quickly assembled for the ANBU, Hinata and Tenten joined then.

"Explain?"

"We were ordered to assist with the evacuation of civilians," answered Naruto. "We got penned trying to enter this area. We had to make a choice, assist you or assist a larger group. I chose to assist you believing that providing assistance for you would end your fight considerable faster than if we assisted with the larger skirmish."

Neither Neko nor Tora responded for a moment. "Where is this larger skirmish?"

"About six blocks that way," answered Hinata nervously.

"We will provide them assistance. Continue on with your mission."

And just like that the two ANBU vanished.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 250000 Exp.**

**Quest Alert: Save Konoha.**

**The village is under attack, do everything in your power to protect both the village and its citizens.**

**Objectives:**

**Gather a team to assist you in defending the village.**

**Safely escort 50 civilians to safety. (32/50)**

**Defeat 20 members of the invading force. (11/20)**

**Defeat Shukaku.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Assist Hayate and Yugao in defeating Baki.**

**Completion Award: 1000000 Exp**

**250000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: Destruction of the Konoha.**

**Imprisonment, torture, and death.**

Naruto closed the window. "Let's get back to it team."

Once the group had gotten past that front line area they were able to easily search and evacuate civilians from the area. Even on their way back out of the area the fighting seemed to have slowed down considerably or just moved again.

"Uzumaki Naruto," cried out a crazed voice drawing the attention of all of the genin.

There he was, standing atop one of the taller buildings in the area, staring at Naruto and his team.

"Uzumaki Naruto! I've been waiting for you! I have to kill you! Mother demands it!"

Suddenly the group was bombarded by bullets of sand, the poor civilians with them didn't stand a chance against it.

"Go, get them out of here," ordered Naruto, pointing down the alley even as he jumped for the rooftop to face down Gaara. "You want me, come get me!" taunted Naruto, easily drawing the crazed boy away from his team.

Naruto moved quickly away from the village with Gaara hot on his trail. He ignored all the fighting around him, his only goal was to get Gaara away from the village. If his quest was right, he was going to be forced to fight against Shukaku and the last thing he or the village needed was a rampaging bijuu in the middle of downtown Konoha.

"Coward! You will fight me! I will feed your blood to mother!"

"Only if your slow ass can catch me," Naruto had to keep taunting him, he couldn't afford for Gaara to turn back. It was a bitch to kite him like this but if it saved lives then it was totally worth it. He had a few close calls as he ran, moments in which the sand had latched on to his belt, or his foot but even still he escaped and kept running and taunting.

Once Naruto was finally over the village wall and a fair distance into the forest he stopped and turned to face off with Gaara.

"Finally done running?"

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure we could fight without any interruptions," replied Naruto.

"Liar, you were afraid of what I might do to the village," replied Gaara, his grin looking even more demonic. "But that's okay. This just makes it more fun. First, mother gets your blood. Then mother gets the blood of everyone else."

"I don't think so," said Naruto, reaching into his pouch to find it missing.

"Looking for this?" asked Gaara, holding up the missing pouch, the boy's sand swallowing the pouch whole a second later. "This time, you won't be able to stop me or mother."

Naruto swallowed nervously, his hope of ending this quickly and completely preventing Shukaku from ever emerging just vanished. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way then," pulling his chakra-to even as the words left his mouth.

Gaara struck first, his hands directing the sand to attack.

Naruto's chakra-to easily cut through the tendrils disturbing Gaara's control for a moment but only just a moment as the sand was quick to reform and resume its attack.

Not seeing another way to keep up at this point, Naruto activated [Kyuubi's Cloak One-Tail]. He was still at 27% corruption from using it earlier in the day but he didn't have much choice if he wanted to survive. So with about thirteen minutes to use the cloak without being taken over he was quickly on the offensive.

[Futon: Hien no Jutsu] boosted by a bit of Kyuubi's chakra gave Gaara a nasty surprise. It cut through the boy's armor, gashing his arm deeply and leaving a nice bleed effect behind.

"You should probably get that looked at," suggested Naruto. "You'll die of blood loss soon enough if you don't. So why don't you just pack up and go home."

"You cut me? How? How do you keep hurting me? It should be possible. I'll kill you!" he screamed.

Naruto felt the ground tremble slightly before there was a large explosion below erupting in a giant cloud of sand. When his vision finally cleared, he was staring down Shukaku. And there, in the center of the beast's forehead, was Gaara, glaring at him with hate and loathing.

"Oh hell," groaned Naruto. Luckily his stats were still amped from having the cloak active so he began the handseals he'd need if he wasn't to even stand a chance at facing down the Ichibi.

**[Kuchiyose no Jutsu]**

Naruto found himself suddenly elevated above the tree line, able to look Gaara in the eye. He cautiously looked down to see who he'd summoned.

**Gamabunta Lv?**

"**Eh, what the hell is this?"** groused the giant toad, blowing a large puff of tobacco smoke.

"I summoned you," answered Naruto. "I need help against that guy please."

"**Eh, why the hell should I help you? You haven't even been properly recognized as a subordinate."**

"I know boss, but the situation is dire. Konoha is under attack and if we don't stop this guy the village will be destroyed," pleaded Naruto.

"**Grr, I suppose I can help you out this once. But next time you summon me, you'd better be prepared to be properly tested."**

"I'll be ready, thank you so much boss."

"**How interesting!" **shouted Gaara, his voice coming from the sand construct and him at the same time. **"Mother will be so pleased. [Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu]."**

"**Yatta! I've finally come out! And I see someone I want to kill!"**

"What the hell is that?" asked Naruto, shocked by the sudden change in personality.

"**The host let the beast take control. Things just got a lot more difficult."**

The giant toad was quick to leap away from the giant Tanuki, firing a few giant balls of water at the same time, more to create a distraction than anything else.

Gaara, or rather Shukaku, ignored the water in whole even as it tore chunks of its sand-made body. Sand, which was quick to reform and fill in the gaps. It did knock down the biju's HP a little but it was regenerating just as fast as the sand reformed.

"Oh, this guy is going to be a pain in the ass to stop," groused Naruto.

"**Heh, we can't stop the biju, kid. I'm not that strong, you'd need me and my brothers just to hold him down to be sealed away. Our goal is going to be to wake up the stupid brat on his forehead. Do that, and we might have a chance . . . a slim chance but still a chance."**

"Great, I'm open to suggestions," replied Naruto loudly. He wasn't sure how loud he'd need to be for the giant toad to hear him.

"**Don't suppose you know a few fire jutsu?"**

"Nope, but I've done [Futon: Gamayudan no Jutsu] with Kichi a bunch. We could probably use that to hold the giant bastard if you know it?"

"**Why didn't you say so? After the next volley we counter with it. I suggest you start channeling Futon chakra into me now."** Gamabunta dodge the air blasts as planned, for as large as the toad was he was shockingly agile.

"[Futon: Gamayudan no Jutsu]!"

"**Futon: Gamayudan no Jutsu]!"**

The jet of wind charged oil spewed from the chief's mouth quickly enveloping the biju in oil that rapidly hardened. The chief toad then took his pipe and flicked it at the biju causing the embers to fly at the encased biju. It only took one spark for the beast to be completely enveloped in flames, including Gaara.

Gaara's screamed in pain signaled the end of his sleep but also that he was back in control. Still, the beast was melting beneath him. In desperation he swiped one of the giant paws, ejecting himself from the sand construct. He flew away from the glowing sand construct, now covered in a glowing red glob of melted sand.

"Finish the construct boss, I'll go after Gaara," called Naruto, leaping off the boss's head without waiting for a reply.

Naruto followed the glowing glass covered jinchuuriki further from the village walls. When he finally found Gaara, the boy was very unhappy looking. He had jagged chunks of glass lodged painfully in his skin, there were several angry red burn marks and the start of some very nasty burn blisters. All told, he had to be in tremendous pain.

"How? I don't understand, how could you beat me?" croaked Gaara pathetically, leaning heavily against a tree which had to be even more painful given the burns he no doubt had on his back as well.

"Because I'm protecting my precious people. Someone told me once that when you have something to protect, you'll become truly strong. You threatened those most precious to me," answered Naruto, lowering his guard. "I think if it weren't for them, I might have turned out just like you. That loneliness, it's a terrible burden, isn't it? The way it pulls at you, tries to break you."

"Yes, it is," answered Gaara, the boy seemed to slump down, completely exhausted at last.

"[Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai no Jutsu]!"

Naruto didn't have any time to even try [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu] to put up a wall or [Chakra Reinforcement] to at least reduce the damage. It was worse than that though, because he was about to turn and leave the defeated boy when he was assaulted by a vicious wind that seemed to cut through everything around him. He was starting to feel a bit of panic as he own HP was rapidly draining too. The only thing he could do was activate and deactivate [Kyuubi's Cloak] as rapidly as he could and hope it could at the very least keep him alive.

And survive he did, if only just. The bleed effect that her technique left behind was unbelievable, he was suffering Bleed Damage of 5000 per 5 seconds.

"Stay away from him," snarled a young female voice.

Naruto recognized her as Temari, Gaara's sister. She looked fierce as she did her best to stand as a shield between Gaara and himself.

"So much for now having anyone precious to protect, eh Gaara?"

"Temari? Why?"

"You're my brother," she answered simply, as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world.

"But why? After how I treated you?"

"Doesn't matter, you and Kankuro are my brothers. I'm supposed to protect you both, especially when you're life is in danger."

Naruto was impressed. The girl had clearly drained almost all of her chakra with that technique and his corruption was going up rapidly with each time he activated and deactivate the cloak that was keeping him alive.

"It's okay, Temari, we're leaving," said Gaara, trying to stand and wincing as he did so.

"What do you mean we're leaving? He almost killed you, we should finish him while he's hurt," she protest, despite the sweat dripping from her face and he labored breath.

"I was just leaving," Naruto tried to interject. He couldn't afford another fight right now.

"Hah, as if we'll let you," shouted Temari.

"It's enough. We've lost this fight," said Gaara. "It's time to retreat."

"But Gaara-"

"Enough, it's time to go," he ordered. Then looked at Naruto, met him eye to eye. "I hope we meet again . . . as friends."

"Me too. I don't want to fight you or your sister again," offered Naruto, trying not to provoke anything further and maybe even lighten the tense mood that mostly originated from Temari.

Temari frowned but rushed to Gaara's side to give him support and help him clear the area.

"Fuck this quest," groused Naruto, looking back toward the village. His corruption was at nearly 96% and the bleed had just finally worn off allowing him a short reprieve.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 250000 Exp.**

**Quest Alert: Save Konoha.**

**The village is under attack, do everything in your power to protect both the village and its citizens.**

**Objectives:**

**Gather a team to assist you in defending the village.**

**Safely escort 50 civilians to safety. (39/50)**

**Defeat 20 members of the invading force. (12/20)**

**Defeat Shukaku.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

'**Talk no Jutsu' Sabaku Gaara**

**Assist Hayate and Yugao in defeating Baki.**

**Completion Award: 1000000 Exp**

**250000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: Destruction of the Konoha.**

**Imprisonment, torture, and death.**

Naruto tapped the close button on the message to be greeted by yet another message.

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

"Troublesome," complained Naruto, leaping up into the trees and heading back for the village. He still needed to escort a lot more civilians to safety and kick the asses of a few more invaders. But before all of that he needed to find his team.

Naruto crossed back over the wall without issue, getting a few salutes and nods of appreciation from the Konoha shinobi on the wall as he did so. Obviously his little battle had some positive effects on his reputation, something he'd have to look into later.

"Naruto!" called Karin loudly, waving at him from a rooftop ahead of his current path.

"Should have known you'd find me before I could find you," said Naruto, landing lightly next to her and the rest of his team.

"I sensed Gaara's defeat, figured we should head this way to meet up with you. I hope that was alright," Karin answered a bit nervously.

"Yeah, it's good. Thank you. Anyway, we've got more civilians to evacuate. This fight isn't over yet even if Gaara is out of it now."

"Then let's get moving," barked Kiba jovially. He seemed to be in a better mood than when the night began. "I bet I can do the most damage with a single hit."

"Kiba, how would you even prove that?" asked Ino, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"That game thing," he replied lamely with a shrug of his shoulders.

Naruto shook his head once and rolled his eyes before waiving the team to move on and follow him. There was still a lot to be done before the day was over.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

A/N: Yes, I live. No, I haven't given up on this story. Real life has been a little busy but mostly I've just been stuck on how I want to write this chapter. I was actually almost half finished when I got stuck and didn't really like what I'd done. Then inspiration struck about a week ago and after rewriting all but the first four or five paragraphs I give you the first Naruto Raid . . . oh yeah, you read that right, I said Naruto Raid . . . can you say winning? FTW! Anyway, enjoy.

A pair of loud thunderous booms echoing through the village stopped the large genin group and the civilians they were escorting in their tracks.

"Naruto, Shikamaru, you'd both better get up here," called Tenten from her perch on the roof above.

Naruto and Shikamaru barely shared a glance before leaping up to the rooftop.

It was immediately apparent why she called them up. Looking to the west, he could see the hospital lit up in fiery orange light, somehow, the invading forces had made it to the hospital. And to the north east, the Hokage tower was similarly lit by fires raging around it but also by an eerie purple glowing barrier on the rooftop.

"What do we do?" asked Tenten, looking to Naruto.

Naruto was torn. He was worried about the old man, from the look of it there was a lot of fighting going on over there. But the hospital, with Sakura's mom, Team 8's sensei, and even Sasuke . . . it shouldn't have been a hard decision but he couldn't help the sick feeling he got in his gut that no matter which he chose, he would lose.

"We go to the hospital, reinforce the ANBU and if necessary assist with evacuating the injured," Naruto ordered, unable to stop the bile forming at the back of his throat even as the words left his mouth.

Tenten and Shikamaru both nodded agreement, even though both of them let their eyes linger on the Hokage tower.

"Let's move," said Naruto, dropping from the roof back into the alley.

"What's happening?" asked Sakura, not liking the look on Naruto's face.

"The hospital is under attack, we're going," he answered, turning swiftly to lead the group.

The group was silent as they moved toward their destination. Naruto could practically feel their worry increase the closer they got, especially with the sounds of fighting intensifying all around them.

"We'll have to break through ahead," said Hinata. "All the other points are very heavily guarded." The girl suddenly stopped moving, a look of surprise on her face. "There is a message."

"What's it say?" asked Naruto, curious.

"[Byakugan]'s level has increased by 1," she answered. "What does that mean?"

"Your Byakugan got stronger from using it so much today," answered Shikamaru.

Hinata looked unsure for a moment before reactivating her doujutsu and looking toward the hospital again. "There's a small group of four chuunin . . . I think. I can see a number next to their name now. It says 25 next to each of them. What does that mean?"

"My genjutsu also acts as a sensor, it assigns a number value to everyone based on what I detect. Same goes for you and your eyes, while my genjutsu is supporting you, it can adapt to your abilities."

"We can discuss this later," interrupted Shikamaru, trying to prevent them from slowing down any more than they already were. "Right now, we need to focus on getting to the hospital and if necessary evacuating it."

"Shikamaru is right, we can talk about it more later if you want but for now let's move forward."

With that, Naruto pulled both of his chakra-to, immediately activating [Futon: Hien no Jutsu]. Resuming his charge toward the four Otonin blocking their path. Luckily, they were all looking toward the hospital, completely unaware of his group, something that would cost them dearly.

As a result, it was too easy, he just charged straight through the unprepared shinobi, killing two of them instantly as he ran through. To his left Chouji rammed an oversized fist into the face of one of them dazing him, also not slowing he slit the man's throat as he passed. To Naruto's right, Kiba and Akamaru shredded the last chuunin with a well-timed and placed [Gatsuga].

"Naruto, on the left," said Shikamaru, pointing to an open doorway. It was to a bakery shop that sat just across the street from the hospital's main entrance. The inside was darkened but that suited their purposes just fine.

Entering the shop, Naruto was less than pleased by the blue alert window that just popped up in front of him and the rest of his team.

***Special Event* Hospital Under Siege – **The Hospital has been overrun by invading shinobi from Otogakure, their reasons unknown as sacking a hospital during an invasion has little strategic value. Recommended Level:30 Minimum Team: 10

"What the hell is that?" cried Tenten, pointing at the window, reading the same message as everyone else.

"Troublesome," groused Shikamaru. "This is getting out of hand. Can you accept that it's part of the genjutsu and if you really need to know more then Naruto will explain it later on?"

"This is super sketchy," complained Ino. "How could Naruto's genjutsu even know any of that? How could Naruto know unless he was in on it?"

"I am not part of the invasion," Naruto immediately defended himself.

"Of course you're not, we all know that but still . . ."

"About a year ago, I woke up and my life became a video game. I don't know why or how but it did. Somehow, it knows shit that I just can't explain. It gives me quests that have objectives that I could never have foreseen or predicted. Whatever it is, I've done the best I can to use it to help Konoha and my friends. Now, can we please focus on the matter at hand? I promise I will give all of you a better explanation after the invasion ends and we've thoroughly kicked all their asses out." Naruto didn't want to explain anything yet. But he was backed into a corner. And his gamer ability just kept making things more complicated. He really just needed his team to focus on the massive task ahead of them.

"Ha, what a crock!" laughed Kiba loudly. "Only you would come up something so ridiculous. But whatever man, you're still a loser. Let's just get in there and kick some ass."

"I do have more questions but they will wait. Why? Because there are more important issues to resolve currently." Shino's response was pretty standard for Shino.

Hinata merely nodded in agreement with her teammates.

"Hmm, you're going to have to explain more later but for now, I'll follow you," said Tenten.

Finally everyone looked to Ino.

"What? Stop looking at me. It's not like I have any other choice other than to follow you guys."

"Good, now that that is out of the way, can we focus on the Hospital Evacuation?" asked Shikamaru, unable to keep the annoyance from his voice.

Inside, the shop was all but destroyed. There was broken glass everywhere from the display cases and front windows both. It didn't appear there was any fighting inside, just collateral damage from fighting out front.

Shikamaru and Naruto both walked closer to the front of the shop to get a good look at the front of the hospital.

"We need more information," said Shikamaru, one hand rubbing his chin.

Naruto looked back toward his group. "Hinata, can you come up here? We need you to tell us how many guards are at the hospital entrance and if possible what rank they are?"

The veins around Hinata's eyes bulged, showing the activation of her Byakugan. "I see two guards, just inside the entrance. They look like they are barely still standing. There are a lot of bodies too. One is level 31, the other 26." She cut off her Byakugan and closed her eyes.

"Is there anyone else in the hospital?" asked Sakura, worry creeping into her voice.

"I can see chakra signatures on the top floor but I can really see what's actually happening," she answered regretfully.

"Thank you, Hinata," said Shikamaru. "You did good," he lamely attempted to reassure the girl.

"I'm thinking a few [Shrapnel Kunai] through the front door should do it," said Naruto, his gaze focused on the lobby.

"They'll know we're coming," replied Shikamaru. "It'll also alert anyone close by."

"I know, I'm counting on it. It should draw some of the forces inside back to the lobby where we can set an ambush," explained Naruto.

"Waves?" asked Shikamaru, giving Naruto a look.

"That's the idea," answered Naruto. He turned back to his team . . . his friends to address them all. "Okay, so we'll be setting off some explosives in the lobby to hopefully kill anyone there but also to draw in the shinobi on the higher floors down to us. This will probably result in waves of shinobi attacking us in the lobby. If this happens we can expect each wave to get consistently harder to fight either due to numbers or strength."

"Why would they keep coming if we just kill them?" asked Ino.

"They might not, in which case we'll have to clear them out, one floor at a time," answered Shikamaru. "It's going to be dangerous. As far as opposition goes, I would bet lots of chuunin and genin but not many jounin, probably just one and he or she will be the leader."

"Why only one jounin?" asked Tenten.

"Two reasons, first, it would be a waste of resource to expend more than one jounin inside after driving off all the ANBU that were protecting this place. Especially on a low value target like the hospital, after all, sick and injured shinobi are not much of a threat. That's especially true when they've already ransacked the emergency services area of the hospital. Second, the recommended level is 30, most people at that level are chuunin or high end genin. Just look at our group, most of us between level 25 and level 30, in fact the only person in this group higher than that is Naruto at level 36," explained Shikamaru.

"Ha, what joke, as if Naruto is that strong," chuffed Kiba.

"Kiba, that's enough, if he has not already proven so to you, Naruto is truly the strongest of us. None of us would have stood a chance against Gaara and yet Naruto defeated him handily and without any assistance from the rest of us." It was surprising to the group to see Shino deliver the chiding to Kiba. Even Kiba was surprised to hear his teammate talk to him like that.

In the end Kiba frowned and crossed his arms, his pride wouldn't let him admit what he clearly knew.

"Please, proceed, Kiba will follow your orders," said Shino, nodding in deference to Naruto.

"Thank you, Shino. That really means a lot to me. Anyway, we have a plan so let's make it happen."

With that, each member of the team primed a pair of kunai with an explosive tag and as one threw them into the lobby across from the bakery. The explosion that followed was excessive as it blew out the window two floors above the lobby and billowed black smoke into the night air.

Naruto charge in first, his goggles over his eyes both to protect from the smoke and also to see any chakra signatures remaining in the lobby.

There was only one survivor, a level 31 shinobi that's HP was down over half. It didn't take but a few seconds to make sure his HP was down to zero.

A moment later Naruto used [Futon: Kaze no Iki no Jutsu] to create just enough wind to blow the rest of the dust and smoke out of the lobby allowing the other genin to see.

"Hinata, I need you to use your Byakugan to keep watch for shinobi coming down to us. Karin, keep your senses open to anyone coming from outside the hospital," ordered Shikamaru.

"Outside the hospital is a giant void," said Karin. "I mean, we can see stuff out there but there is nothing beyond the hospital in my sensing range. Is this something to do with your gamer ability, Naruto?"

"I don't know, it could be."

"It doesn't matter, Karin. Just do your best to warn us if that situation changes." Shikamaru replied briskly.

"They are coming," said Hinata. "I can see a large group amassing on the second floor by the stairwell."

"Where are the patients?" asked Sakura.

"They appear to be barricaded on the top floor. I can see Kurenai-sensei with them," answered Hinata. "She appears to be leading the defense."

"First wave," called Naruto, hearing footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Same formation, Naruto, Kiba and Chouji hit them first and the rest of clean up after. Sakura and Karin, do your best to heal us all," ordered Shikamaru, his hands coming together in the first handseal he ever learned and the basis for all of his kage jutsu.

Naruto frowned in worry, they were in a very dangerous situation. The first shinobi to appear, Naruto bombard him with [Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu] quickly dropping the level 21 shinobi's health to zero, a critical hit to the head putting an end to him.

The incoming shinobi didn't take that laying down though as they quickly countered with a wall of fire filling the hallway and travelling toward them rapid.

Almost as the same time, Naruto and Chouji but erected a wall of stone blocking the fire, effectively putting a stop to the fire only to have walls crumble as several bolts of lightning shot through. Naruto winced as one of the bolts connected with his shoulder draining just over a six hundred HP. It wasn't a lot of damage to him but it would be very damaging to the rest of his team. Luckily the lightning fizzled out just after is passed him and Chouji.

Naruto glanced at Chouji and frown, the rotund young man seemed to have lost over half of his HP meaning he got hit by several of those bolts.

"Sakura, heal Chouji," ordered Shikamaru. "Naruto, hit them back with an area of effect wind jutsu, it should get that raiton user to back off."

Naruto did just that, unleashing three consecutive [Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu] which was followed several yelps of pain as the shinobi on the other end of the technique were knocked back by the wind and suffered a bit of minor damage.

It did give the group a chance to finally see the first wave of shinobi. Two level 30's and four level 24's.

As if by some unspoken signal both sides attacked.

Naruto went after one of the level 30's, trusting his team to manage the others.

"I'm going to kill you brat," said Masi, Naruto's target of choice as the blue letters above his head revealed his name.

"You can try," said Naruto, not holding back in the slightest as he let a pair of [Futon: Kaze no Yaiba no Jutsu] flying. He completely missed with one but the other took the man's arm clean off just past the shoulder joint.

Masi stepped back in shock, staring at the missing limb in disbelief. He never saw Naruto close and jam a kunai under the man's chin and up into his head ending his life.

A sad sigh followed as Naruto pulled the kunai back out, immediately seeking to help Shikamaru. The shadow using genin was attempting to strangle the other level 30 but the man, Goji, was resisting quite well as he pressed on, trying to outmuscle the shadows.

A fist meeting Goji's temple distracted him just enough for Shikamaru's shadows to slither up around the man's neck and close around it like a noose and drawing tight until he breathed no more.

When Naruto looked back the rest of the first wave were down and dead.

"Next wave is already coming," warned Hinata. "Same thing as before but they are all one level higher."

"You heard her, let's go," said Naruto, rushing back toward the hallway where the enemy would emerge.

Three more waves of shinobi attacked and the team repelled them with just as much tenacity as the first wave.

"What is that thing?" asked Hinata, her Byakugan staring at the floor above them.

"What?"

"It's the last one but I don't know what it is. It looks like a demon and the chakra looks like its ill or something. Its level 32," she explained with minimal stutter.

"Boss?" asked Shikamaru.

"Hinata, the top floor, are Otonin still there?"

"Yes, the leader doesn't show a level though," she answered.

"Is it a question mark or just blank?" asked Shikamaru.

"Blank."

"Troublesome. This thing coming now is a sub boss then. Naruto, use your clones to delay him and scout his abilities. Everyone else, heal up as best you can and mentally prepare yourselves for a real fight," warned Shikamaru, taking out a hyorogan and swallowing it to replenish at least some of his chakra.

Naruto spawned about two dozen clones and sent them up the stairs to start harassing the thing coming next. With the clones away he sat down to rest a moment and use [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] to replenish his own severely depleted reserves, even if he did take a little damage in the process.

The first clone to die sent Naruto some base information.

**Noroi Lvl 32**

**HP: ?/? CP: ?/?**

**When Orochimaru's curse seal fails to settle properly on those subjected most die after an excruciating amount of pain and suffering. Occasionally one of them survives becoming something worse, a walking curse.**

"It's a survivor of one of Orochimaru's experiments," Naruto announced to his friends.

"How do you know that?" asked Ino.

"My clone died after finding out with one of my abilities. Anyway, he died when the beast's arm turned into a sword and cut it in half. The next two died when the same arm changed into a spiked ball and mauled them. I think this thing is a shape shifter."

"Its chakra looks unstable," said Hinata, watching through the ceiling as the clones managed to slow the thing down but not really damage it much at all.

"Is it slow?" asked Shikamaru.

"Sadly no, it's not like the Chakra Rat Abomination, and this thing seems to have some intelligence."

"Troublesome, okay, we're going to have to try something different. Naruto and Chouji, you both need to turn it away from us so we can attack its back. That also means you're going to have to take turns keeping its attention so that we can heal you guys as the fight progresses. Pay attention for it to wind up any big attacks or area of effect. We need to get through this fight with as little damage as possible."

"Chouji, you want to go first, my taunt should be able to instantly get aggression from it?" offered Naruto.

"I can do that," said Chouji.

"Okay, I'm not sure how much damage this guy's hit is going to do but take these and use them if you need," Naruto held out a few of his Shosen Fuda.

Chouji took them, sticking a few on his arms to be activated at a moment's notice and putting the rest into his pouch.

And further planning was forestalled by the Noroi's arrival and its beastly bellow. It was larger than a grown man, muscle bulging oddly from its limbs. The skin having an odd purplish-red tone to it making it look very demonic indeed. Both of its arms were as long as it was tall giving it a lot of reach. His legs were covered in ragged black pants that looked several sizes too big even on such a huge body.

Quickly shaking any surprise or disgust at the image of the beast, Chouji enlarged both his arms and leapt forward dropping a double hammer fist on the things head driving it into the floor and cracking the tile below it.

Naruto was careful to watch the things health bar to see if the damage Chouji just did managed to drop its health at all and was sorely disappoint to not even be able to tell if he damaged it at all.

Chouji, meanwhile moved past the beast so that it was stuck between him and the group. He then started pounding on the beast while it was down. The pounding stopped though when the beast suddenly sprung forward, ramming its misshapen head into Chouji's chest and stomach. Thankfully it didn't do much damage thanks to Chouji's armor and [Doton: Ishi no Hada no Jutsu] acting like a second skin but it still took almost an eighth of his HP.

"Everyone, start slow on the dps, we want to make sure Chouji's got his full attention," ordered Shikamaru, his hands starting seals. A moment later he shot a small ball of fire at the creature. Thankfully the creature was completely focused on Chouji.

With that the group started to slowly build up damage.

"Naruto, switch," ordered Shikamaru when Chouji's HP hit 50% or his maximum.

Naruto spawned four clones and in a single instant all of them used [Futon: Kaze no Yaiba no Jutsu] dealing the first significant damage to the Noroi and fully getting its attention from Chouji.

"Come at me you overgrown experimental jellyfish wannabe," Naruto used his [Taunt] just to be completely certain he had its attention. Thankfully, the taunt didn't enrage him just as it didn't on any of the bosses in the training fields.

Arming himself with both chakra-to, he blocked and deflected the various shapeshifting attacks of the Noroi and countered as best he could but it seemed like the beast's hide was thicker on his chest because the attacks barely dented him and didn't leave behind anything for a bleed effect.

Suddenly the beast bellowed and curled into a ball, the skin all over it seemed to bubble and melt together. Then without warning it just sort of exploded, spraying yellow liquid all around it.

Sakura was the first to get hit by the liquid, at first it didn't do anything then it began to burn, suddenly eating into her forearm causing her to scream in pain.

"Acid," called out Tenten. "Use your kunai to scrape it off your skin. It won't get rid of all of it but it should get the most of it." The girl was furthest from the group, using her weapons to do as much ranged damage as she could, she also managed to be out of range of the acid bomb spray.

Naruto didn't have time for that though as the beast already reformed and resumed attacking him, the only thing he could do was flash the [Kyuubi's Cloak] to burn away the acid and heal the damage. He had to keep the Noroi's attention on himself so his team could get some healing done.

"Karen, heal Sakura first then make sure you get Chouji's HP topped off, he's going to need to switch with Naruto soon. Then you can heal the rest of us. Also, if it does that acid bomb spray again, we all need to get back by Tenten to get out of range. Naruto, Chouji, if you are in front of it trying using an earth wall to block the acid."

It didn't take long for Karen to heal Sakura's burns and then together they were able to heal all of the other genin.

"Okay, Chouji, switch with Naruto," ordered Shikamaru.

Chouji frowned though and didn't move. "How am I supposed to take its attention from Naruto?"

"You've heard me use [Taunt] in the past, just do the same thing," Naruto yelled, it was easy to see he was getting tired and beat up.

Chouji frowned again. He really didn't like to say mean things to people, too many people had said mean things to him.

"Oi, Chouji, I heard it say you're a fatass and that it was going to eat all your chips and make you watch," shouted Ino.

The frown was gone, replaced by a fire in the boy's eyes. "Fatass? Fatass? Who the hell do you think you are? No one takes the last chip but me. I'm going to break you like a little twig so come and try to take my chips you two ton loser."

The beast quickly turned on Chouji and attacked.

Chouji easily blocked the attack and counter with an oversized uppercut hammering it into the ceiling and giving him a chance to trade places with Naruto. It also gave him a chance to close the pop-up message about learning a new skill [Taunt].

Ino too had to close a window for a new skill [Twisted Encouragement].

Meanwhile, it took both Karin and Sakura to heal Naruto, he'd taken a lot of damage. It didn't help them that he was using [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] while they were trying to heal him.

"It's almost at half health, prepare for it to do something troublesome," warned Shikamaru.

"What does half health matter?" asked Tenten.

"You've never really played video games have you?" asked Shikamaru.

"Nope, never," she replied.

"Well, bosses, like the Noroi there, they like to try and fuck over the group at milestone health points, like that acid bomb spray when it was around 75% health," explained Shikamaru.

"Ah, I see," said Tenten, unsealing a trident and hurling it across the room at the Norio. The trident struck and stuck into the creatures back with all of the other weapons that she and the others had lodged into the beasts back and yet it didn't slow it down at all.

As expected, at 50% the beast bellowed again, this time several mouths opened and screamed with it. The noise soon overwhelming them, eventually shattering the already broken glass around the room causing it to exploded into the air around them. Then the screech increased in volume and pitch again.

Naruto tried to blink away the pain in his head, and the dizziness and nausea that was starting to fill him up. But it did no good, eventually he tried covering his ears but the damage was already done, half of his team was already unconscious when the scream ended and he was barely standing as it was.

He looked and saw Chouji was down so he attacked, trying to get its attention but it seemed like whatever it did was also affecting it. That's when it clicked, the beast was completely defenseless as it wobbled, barely standing.

"Attack it with everything you've got!" he yelled as loudly as he could, not sure if anyone heard him seeing as he couldn't really hear himself. "It's completely defenseless right now!"

Naruto was shocked to Hinata as the first to attack, her hands blazing with chakra as her delicate fingers attacked the Noroi's insides. Realizing he wasn't doing anything he too attacked as did Tenten and surprisingly Ino. He noticed Karen was wobbling around trying to rouse the rest of the team and healing damage where she could if only to get them up and attacking too.

Focusing back on the Norio, he unleashed as much damage as he could muster without hitting his teammates. His chakra-to and wind blades slicing into the creature over and over again, dealing as much hurt and damage as he could until suddenly the beast bellowed one last time, though it was more of a death knell before it simply collapsed to the ground unmoving, it's body rapidly dissipating as any other chakra mutation would.

"That's sucked," he griped, collapsing to the ground, still unable to hear his own groans or the cheers of his teammates.

It took a few minutes for the two healers to heal everyone enough to hear again and discuss the next step.

"Okay, we need to get up stairs and drive out the rest of the Otonin," said Naruto. "First, we need to heal up as much as possible. We've probably still got at least one more boss fight to go and all of the little minions with him."

"Her," corrected Hinata, forgetting where she was or who she was talking too. She was just too tired to notice.

"Hey, before that, this thing left stuff," called Tenten, drawing the group's attention back to the place the Noroi died and decomposed.

"Troublesome," groaned Shikamaru. "Okay, we need to make some loot rules. We don't have time to fight over the stuff that dropped so we're going to make this easy. If you want it, let me know, I'll make a recommendation to Naruto and then he'll decide who gets it, end of story."

"Why does he get to decide?" demanded Kiba.

"Because he's the leader, Kurenai-sensei made him the leader, let's leave it at that," stated Shino, putting a stop to his teammate's argument.

Naruto sighed, he didn't want the responsibility but for the sake of time he would do it. "To start, we have 25000 ryo each for defeating him."

There was some surprise from his friends as he handed them the neat clean stacks of money.

"Don't ask about the money, I don't really get it either but I'm sure as hell not going to complain but if any of you want to complain I'll be happy to take your share. Now, for the first drop we have a **Hone no Noroi**.

**Hone no Noroi – **Made from the bones of the cursed, this weapon is capable of shapeshifting into any weapon the user desires by adding chakra. Requires Lv28. Stats 100-150 Damage. +50 STR &amp; +50 DEX. Cost 50 CP to change form. DUR 200/200

"I want," stated Tenten, her eyes sparkling in the creepiest way imaginable.

"I could use that too," said Kiba. "I'm always looking for a good bone to play fetch with Akamaru."

His statement was met with a few deadpan looks and shaking heads.

"I wouldn't mind it either, I could use a good weapon," said Chouji, his need was clearly genuine.

"Since it's Tenten's first time and because she's a weapon's mistress, I'd say she get it," recommended Shikamaru. "Sorry Chouji."

"It's cool, don't worry about it," said Chouji with a shrug.

"Next up, we have skill scroll, [San Bakudan no Jutsu]. It's an acid bomb skill," said Naruto, twirling the scroll between his fingers.

"Any requirements?"

"Don't know, it won't tell me unless I try to learn it and I still haven't learned that copy fuinjutsu from Ero-Sennin yet."

"Okay, so who wants it?"

"Oh hell yeah," said Kiba. "I could use that, hell yeah."

"I could use more offensive skills," said Sakura. "And that would go well with my poison mist technique."

"I always want more jutsu but I don't think that one is a good fit for my fighting style," said Naruto.

"I'd take it but I already got something epically awesome," added Tenten.

"I would also like to learn it. I think it would work well with my insects if I can teach them to naturally secret the acid," said Shino.

"Acid bugs, awesome!" shouted Kiba. "Give it to Shino, he could totally make that work."

"Given that Kiba has withdrawn his entry, I'm inclined to agree with giving it to Shino."

"Thank you," said Shino, accepting the scroll then pausing as soon as it was in his hands. "Can I really learn it like this?"

"Hit 'accept' and find out," said Naruto, grinning ear to ear.

Shino tapped the button and recoiled a little when the scroll when up in flames.

"Interesting, very interesting," said Shino.

"So did you actually learn it?" asked Kiba.

Shino formed a few seals then spit a yellow glob from his mouth at one of the walls and upon hitting the wall it exploded in a spray of acid about a half meter around it.

"Not very strong," commented Kiba.

"It's only level one, it will get stronger the more he uses it," said Naruto. "Still, if that doesn't prove this gamer thing works then I don't know what will."

"We need to pick up the pace Naruto, we still have to get up to the top floor," warned Shikamaru, sobering the group and refocusing them on the task at hand.

"Right, sorry," said Naruto, picking up the next loot drop. "[Orochimaru's Juin Notes], its fuinjutsu formulas. Does anyone have a problem with me keeping these since I'm the only one here that uses Fuinjutsu?"

"That's not even up for debate," said Shikamaru. "In fact, before you learn those, make sure you show them to the Hokage."

Naruto nodded his agreement right away and opened his inventory to put the notes in it. He was slightly surprised that there was also skill scroll in there. Somewhere he picked up a [Futon: Renkudan no Jutsu], shrugging he closed his inventory.

"Okay, last piece," said Naruto, picking up a small knife. "It's called **Juin's Enjintou**."

**Juin's Enjintou – **Used to keep the Noroi alive during his creation this scalpel is sharper than even the sharpest wind blade, capable of cutting through even the thickest of skin. Requires Iryonin with [Beginner Enjintou] skill or higher. Requires Lv28. Stats: 25-50 Damage. +100 INT. +25% healing to Iryojutsu. DUR 25/25.

"Must have," said Karin and Sakura in one voice, making grabbing motions toward the scalpel.

"I have so got to start learning iryojutsu," said Ino.

"Me too," said Hinata sadly.

"Too tough to call," said Shikamaru. "But, given it is Karin's first time with us I would say she gets the edge."

Naruto really wanted to give it to Sakura, she was his teammate after all but Shikamaru is right, they used that as justification for giving Tenten the first piece of loot earlier. So with a sigh and knowing that no matter what he did he would not come out the winner in all of this he held the scalpel out to Karin who happily accepted and held close to herself like it was something precious.

"Okay, that's loot, let's move on, we've still got to get the Otonin on the top floor out," Naruto ordered, getting his team moving, they'd rested enough at this point.

The group moved as carefully and quietly as they could up the stairs toward the top floor of the hospital only stopping outside the doors leading to the fifth floor.

"What's on the other side, Hinata?" asked Shikamaru as the group did their final checks.

"Only six Otonin left, a lot more are dead," she answered. "It looks like Kurenai-sensei's defense has been very successful."

"Except that all six that are left are probably the strongest of them all," groused Shikamaru. "What are their levels?"

"Two are level 25. Two are level 30. One is level 35. And the last one doesn't have a level listed, I can see question marks now," she answered.

"So troublesome, let's hope that when we attack that Kurenai-sensei will as well. What can you tell us about the shinobi on the other side of the door other than their level?"

Hinata frowned for a moment as she tried to figure out what they shinobi specialized in. "I can see a bat hanging inside the level 35's coat, so he probably uses high pitch sound . . ." She paused in her description when a new window popped up for her. "It says I learned a new skill called [Doujutsu Observe]."

"That's a good thing, if you use the skill when you're looking at the opponent it will give you extra information. You just have to think [Doujutsu Observe] to activate the skill," explained Naruto.

Hinata nodded once and tried.

"First is Gozu, he's level 30, he has Doton affinity but he has a lot of strength too so maybe taijutsu too. Next is Kigiri, level 30, Katon affinity, he's not very strong but his intelligence is pretty high. Kiho, level 25, it says his affinity is unknown, he's smart like Kigiri but otherwise very weak. Nurari, a water affinity, he's got a lot of dexterity but not much else. And last is Rinji, level 35, the bat user, he's actually pretty well balanced for stats, no real weakness."

"Okay, so Chouji, you're going to engage Gozu when we get in there. Tenten, you're with Chouji. Shino and Kiba, I want you two to go after Kiho. Hinata and Karin, you get Nurari. Ino, you're with me, we'll be taking on Kigiri. That's leaves Naruto and Sakura with Rinji."

"Is it smart to split us all up like this?" asked Ino.

"We have to," answered Shikamaru. "We need to keep them separated from each other, the weaker teams need to just keep their opponent busy. The stronger teams need to defeat their opponents fast and help out the others."

"Hey, you never told us about the last guy, the question mark guy," Kiba pointed out, drawing attention back to Hinata.

"Her name is Guren, and that's all I know," she answered timidly.

"That's okay, as you gain levels with your new skill you'll be able to get more information. Hell, you can already get more information that I can," explained Naruto, trying to cheer her up a bit.

"Really?"

"Yeah, all I get are stats, statuses, level, and a brief description, yours told you their affinity which is kind of a big deal. I'm sure yours will tell you even more as you get stronger with it."

Hinata suddenly blushed furiously as she realized that Naruto was encouraging her. That he thought she could become strong. If it weren't for the impending danger she might just have fainted. "Thank you, Naruto-kun," she finally mumbled.

Naruto grinned and nodded, it seemed he was finally getting to know Hinata without her getting sick all the time.

"Is everyone ready?" asked Shikamaru, looking at each of them. "I know most of us a still a bit low on chakra so be conservative with any skills you use, other than that, please don't die, it would be troublesome."

Naruto took a final deep breath in an attempt to mentally prepare himself for what was waiting on the other side of the door before he pushed the doors open. The hall was opened pretty wide as the walls to the patient rooms on either side had been knocked down at some point during the attack. Guren and her team were standing unconcerned, completely unaware of the group coming up behind them.

"For the last time, hand over the Uchiha and maybe we'll let the rest of you live," shouted Guren toward a barricade of turned over hospital beds and medical equipment.

"And I'll tell you for the last time, you come a step closer and I'll kill the last Uchiha," Kurenai called back.

Guren snarled in frustration. It was a stalemate and she'd already lost the majority of the troops Orochimaru had granted her for this mission.

"Ano, Guren-san, we have company," said Rinji, jerking a thumb to point over his shoulder.

"Leverage," said Guren, grinning sadistically. "Capture them, maybe the bitch in charge would be willing to trade the Uchiha."

"As you wish, Guren-sama," said Kigiri, bowing formally and respectfully, his voice slightly muffled by the gas mask on his face.

"Well, they know we're here," said Naruto, grimacing slightly at the inconvenience it present.

"Plan doesn't change," said Shikamaru.

"Chouji, use your [Nikudan Sensha no Jutsu] to separate them," Naruto ordered, he needed them to spread out.

Chouji pulled a string of weapons from his pouch wrapping it around himself before activating his skill, turning into giant ball covered in spikey weapons. It took a second for him to spin up to speed before he shot off like a bullet, barreling through the enemy group successfully scattering all of them but Guren who create a wall of pink crystal which Chouji bounced off of and into the air. It was pure luck that when Chouji landed, it was slamming down on the white haired, pasty skinned Kiho. Even luckier, was the man getting sucked into Chouji's spin before spitting him out at high velocity.

Even Naruto winced when Kiho's head impact one of the support pillars knocking the man out of the fight and straight to sleepy time, the KO status buff clearly visible to him. He prepared to throw a kunai to finish the man when the same pink crystals that protected Guren earlier rose up around the downed Otonin.

"Okay, Shino and Kiba, I want you with Chouji and Tenten on Gozu," said Shikamaru, adjusting his plans for the surprise stroke of luck that came with knocking that man out.

Before Shikamaru could give any other orders, Nurari, the Otonin with increase dexterity attacked first, trying for a maneuver similar to what Chouji achieved with his initial attack. He was wearing a skintight blue bodysuit that covered him from head to toe except for his face and a tuft of pink hair near the top of his forehead. The man's body stretched and twirled at impossible angles in his attack easily dodging any counterattack not that it matter as most of the group had moved away leaving Karin and Hinata to face the man.

"Something is coating his body," said Hinata, her Byakugan active and trying to gather information on her and Karin's opponent.

"It's not chakra," said Karin, doing her best to keep distance while Hinata stayed in close.

Hinata struck with an open palm hitting perfectly to Nurari's midsection but did almost no damage as her chakra was stopped by the liquid that coated the man. When she pulled her hand back to avoid his counter attack she noticed that some of the same liquid that coated the man's body now also coated her hand, absorbing chakra.

"That is really gross," said Karin, trying to analyze their opponent just as Hinata was.

"It acts like a shield, absorbing both the impact and the chakra from my attack," said Hinata, cartwheeling away to avoid a series of knife hand slices, the opponent's hands literally like knives.

"So we need to attack his insides," said Karin, forming a few quick hand seals causing her hands to be enveloped in a white chakra. "Hinata, think you can clear a patch of skin?"

"I can try, but I don't know how long it will last," she answered, her body starting to move more easily now that she'd learned Nurari's attack pattern. He wasn't overly creative seeming to rely entirely on his taijutsu and shapeshift ability. Finally she saw the opening she wanted and struck, her hands flying in rapid blur into the man's right hip, splattering the liquid that covered him all over her hands but clearing a patch of his body.

It only took a moment for Hinata to duck and roll away as Karin leapt in, her hand blazing forward and striking the area Hinata cleared away.

"Gah!" screamed Nurari, Karin's hit slicing through bone, muscle and tendon, virtually severing the man's leg at the hip internally. The Otonin, tried to stumble away, his leg now completely limp and unusable. "Guren-sama, help me," he called out, looking toward the still barricade leader.

Karin though wasn't having it as she started another set of handseals before her chakra pulsed slightly causing Nurari to freeze in place, his muscles locking tight and unmoving. "[Genjutsu Shibari] successful," she said, a devious grin on her face.

Hinata pulled a kunai intent on moving forward and finishing Nurari but once again just as another of the Otonin was about to have his life be taken he was encased in pink crystal.

Karen and Hinata both looked toward the jounin who looked amused if her smirk was anything to go by.

"We don't have time to waste," said Hinata, looking quickly around the room to see how their teammates were doing against the various Otonin.

"It looks like Shikamaru and Ino are in trouble," said Karin.

A simple nod from the shy heiress was the only response she needed as the pair moved to attempt assisting their fellow Genin.

Meanwhile Naruto and Sakura had their hands full dealing with Rinji, the bat user.

"Gah, not again," groaned Naruto, holding his head as his balance was thrown off again by the man's ultrasonic attack hitting his inner ear. He'd had another exchange with the bat user, he managed to cut the man pretty deeply and kick him away but the damage Naruto got in return was more than a little obnoxious.

Sakura acted quickly to cover for her disoriented teammate, blowing out a large cloud of poison gas to pushing the man further away again deeper into a series of room cut off from the rest of the hall where everyone else was fight. And it gave her a chance to heal Naruto.

"Hold still," she warned as her hands lit up with green chakra. She held her hands to either side of his head for moment healing the not so obvious damage.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," said Naruto. "How the hell does he keep doing this to me?"

"It's got to be ultrasonic."

"Huh?"

"A sound you can't hear, it's why your ears bleed," she explained.

"Great, so we can't hear him attack, any ideas?"

Sakura though frown. "Naruto, I need some mud."

Naruto looked at her confused.

"Just do it, I have an idea," she said, watching the gas cloud carefully for the Otonin to attack.

Naruto fired a [Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu] into the ground cracking it slightly creating a basin to hold the mud she wanted.

Sakura then grabbed a handful in each hand then slapped the mud into Naruto's head, specifically over his ears, jamming as much mud into them as she could.

"What the hell?" Naruto shouted loudly.

Sakura rolled her eyes before doing the same for herself. Then motioning for him to stop yelling.

"What?" yelled Naruto, clearly confused.

Sakura sighed heavily, she should have explained her plan first but with the bat guy around she couldn't have him hear the plan or it might not work. She then reached into her pouch and pulled out a small medical notepad she kept on her. She wrote a quick note and showed it to Naruto.

"Oh," he yelled, not that she could hear him.

Sakura put the pad away and the note with it, no need to risk Rinji seeing the message.

Naruto finally gave her a thumbs up before looking to the dissipated poison cloud and into a very dark room ahead of them. This time it was his turn to roll his eyes. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out a pair of kunai and explosive notes, an action mirrored by Sakura.

A quick three count and the pair tossed the kunai into the darkened room. The explosion lit up the room and knocked out part of the wall that blocked their view into the room and kicking up dust. Unfortunately there was no sign of Rinji in the room, just a hole in the ceiling leading up to the rooftop.

Naruto pointed to the hole, getting a nod from Sakura. It was about halfway to the hole as it occurred to him that sticking his head out of that hole might be a quick way of getting dead. Thankfully, Naruto had an army of people willing to go through the hole first. [Kage Bunshin no Jutsu] was so very useful.

Ten clones formed as they formed a line to exit the building. The first three died instantly, the fourth made it onto the roof just long enough to block a pair of kunai before dying. Thankfully the fourth clone's death allowed the next three to get out of the hole, two more died before all of the clones and Naruto and Sakura made it onto the roof.

Up on the roof itself was dark, there seemed to be a haze of smoke hanging in the air that high up in addition to the cloud coverage giving Rinji a lot of advantage.

It was only thanks to Naruto's gamer ability that he saw the literal wave a bats flying at him and Sakura. [Doton: Kabe no Jutsu] erected a pair of solid stone walls in front of the pair absorbing the brunt of the damage and killing several of the bats on impact.

Rinji though still took advantage, moving in a slicing into the back of Naruto's leg hobbling him.

Naruto naturally lashed out at his attacker but missed as the man vanished once more into the darkness.

Sakura, upon seeing the damage immediately went to work, healing her friend so that he could fight as much as he wanted, easily removing the 'Hobbled' status effect in doing so.

In the shadows and darkness, Rinji frowned, he was getting frustrated that every time he hurt one of the pair, the iryonin would just heal them both as if they had never been hurt in the first place, and now it seemed like his sonic attacks weren't working either. Looking closely at the pair he could see something covering their ears, mostly like mud given the blonde's affinity for firing mud bullets without concern for collateral damage or chakra usage.

"Fine, if that how you brats want to play it," he said not caring that they couldn't hear him. Being out in the open like this wasn't good, especially if any ANBU or jounin shinobi happened to pass by, even as unlikely as that was given the intensity of the fighting near the Hokage tower that was meant to act as a distraction so they could get in and out without anyone knowing any differently, not that that plan hadn't already been blown to hell.

So he attacked again, with a lot more reckless abandon, his wonderful friends the bats doing everything could to augment his fighting ability.

Naruto was quick to get in the path of the rather sudden and seemingly desperate attack from the Otonin. Both of his arms shot up blocking an axe kick before he had to drop his elbows to block the round house kick the man twisted into, the impact causing him to slide a bit. Pulling his chakra-to and activating [Futon: Hien no Jutsu], Naruto returned the attack, slicing at the man, nicking him occasionally but not scoring any major hits.

While behind him, Sakura was spitting out clouds of poison gas all around them, killing the wretched bats that were making their lives so very difficult and slowly but surely chipping away at both of their health points.

Finally, Rinji over extend a jab as his foot slipped on one of the dead bats that littered the ground all around him, compliments of the poison mist that the girl was using quite liberally. That's when Rinji felt it.

Naruto saw the shock and surprise in the Rinji's eyes as his chakra-to cut cleanly through the man's stomach opening him up.

Right away the Rinji's arm moved to cover his stomach, knowing it wouldn't do much good, even as he fell backwards. He couldn't hold back a small chuckle of shock and disbelief, a pair of kids beat him, skilled as they were he couldn't quite believe it.

Any further action by any of them was forestalled by the entire roof giving way beneath them, causing all three of the shinobi to fall back into the destroyed hospital.

Naruto and Sakura tried to keep a grip on the roof even as they both tumbled down into the hall below sliding across the collapsing rooftop and onto the floor below, skidding to a stop in front of their team.

The Konoha genin looked worse for wear but they were all alive and mostly standing. Shikamaru was the first to act in trying to help Naruto and Sakura back to their feet.

Naruto observed his team, they were all pretty much drained of chakra and at best a few were above 50% health which more than could be said for their opponents who were all encased in the pink crystal, even Rinji. It was then Naruto saw that Rinji was no longer bleeding out from having his stomach cut open, he was in stasis. All of them were, that was what Guren's crystal did.

Naruto and Sakura were quick to scrape away the mud on their faces and tried to extract the mud in their ears just enough to hear what the woman had to say.

"Well, well, well, I never thought a bunch of kids would beat that Noroi and make it this far, but to have beaten my team as well. I'm somewhat impressed. It's too bad I'm going to have to kill you all now, I can't let you grow up and become a threat to Orochimaru-sama," Guren stated coldly, a blue crystal forming along her forearms into a pair of wicked looking crystal blades.

"The hell you will," said a voice from behind the woman.

Guren's eyes widened slightly as she turned to the source of the noise, jumping back suddenly.

The kunai was visible first as was the trail of blood that follow it through the air as it cut through the side of Guren's neck followed by an exhausted Kurenai wavering into existence.

Guren clutched at her neck, wrapping it in crystal to stop the bleeding but severely hampering her ability to fight. "You bitch," she hissed, spitting out a bit of blood. Guren then start a set of fast seals before calling out, "Shoton: Suishoheki Hachi no Jin!"

The first and only warning the genin got was the slight rumbling of the ground that something bad was about to happen.

"Get back!" screamed Kurenai in warning as she turned and ran herself trying to get as much distance as she was able.

The genin listened to orders and turned and ran for the stairwell they came up to begin with.

It was terrifying as the crystal shot from the floor into the night sky sucking in anything it came in contact with, including the Otonin that were in stasis as well as Guren herself.

As the genin entered the stairwell they jumped down the first flight of stairs and even the second just in case in an effort to put some space between them.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when the rumbling stopped signaling the end of the fight and hopefully the end of the event.

"Think it's over?" asked Shikamaru.

"I sure as hell hope so, I don't think I can do that again," griped Naruto. "Hell, we're all pretty much dead on our feet at this point."

"Think they'll bill us for the damages?" asked Kiba, cracking a small grin.

"If they do, you're paying for it mutt boy," snapped Ino.

"What? It worked didn't it?"

"Troublesome, Kiba, bringing down the entire roof to stop Gozu was a bit extreme don't you think?"

"Meh," he shrugged. "We're alive, he's not. I call that a win."

"So that's what happened to the roof?" asked Sakura, picking at her ear to try and get a bit more of the mud out.

"Yeah, that guy Gozu was ridiculous. Nothing we did hurt him, his body was made of mud, he just absorbed everything we through at him," explained Chouji, the bulky boy sitting on the stairs, gripping his side where a nasty looking gash was bleeding but not enough to be life threatening.

"So wishing I knew a few raiton jutsu," groused Tenten, leaning heavily against the wall of the stairwell.

"So everyone had fun?" asked Naruto cheekily, grinning from ear to ear. He couldn't help but feel like they had all accomplished something important here.

"You need a new definition of fun, Naruto-kun," laughed Karin. "But yeah, it was okay."

"It's been quiet for a while, should we head up and see if we can get through the crystal to Kurenai-sensei?" asked Hinata, just as tired as the rest of them.

"Yeah, let's go," said Naruto, leading up the stairs first.

He honestly couldn't help but whistle in appreciation of the giant crystal formation that had taken over almost the entire area they had previously used as a warzone.

"Anyone have any idea on how we clear this out?" asked Ino.

Tenten was quick to pull her new toy out and shift it into a giant hammer. "Stand back, I got this," she said as she swung the massive maul back then struck forward hitting the crystal solidly but not making a dent. "What?" she demanded. "Not even a scratch?"

"Ano, you might want to stand back," said Hinata, her Byakugan active and directed toward the crystal.

It was then a slight ringing began to fill the room as the entire crystal structure began to shake before suddenly exploding in a shower of tiny pink crystal fragments. When the dust settled everything was coated in pink crystal dust, including the genin.

"We never tell our sensei about this," said Kiba, getting a nod from all the boys.

"Not a word to Kakashi-sense, Sakura," warned Naruto.

"I would never," she protested immediately but could neither hide her smirk nor the slight giggle that followed.

Naruto knew then he was doomed.

"Hey, they left stuff behind, no bodies, but stuff," said Tenten, walking up to a small pile of good covered by a few large crystals that didn't shatter with the rest of them.

"Same as before, Naruto decides who gets what," said Shikamaru, walking up to the pile.

"Fine," said Naruto, joining Shikamaru at the loot. "First, money, 50000 ryo each, enjoy greedy people."

Shikamaru handed Naruto a green kimono top first.

"Guren's Battle Kimono," he announced before reading the stats.

**Guren's Battle Kimono – **A powerful and stylish kimono designed for combat, lined with high quality chain mesh armor capable of stopping even futon enhanced blade from cutting through. Requires Female &amp; Lv30. Stats: +250 DEF, +25 DEX, +25 VIT, DUR 105/105.

"Okay, so I can't use it yet but that is all me," said Ino, stars in her eyes as she studied the kimono.

"I would also like it," said Hinata softly.

"Me too," said Sakura and Karin in one voice.

"Well, Sakura and Hinata are closest to being able to use it but . . . and I know this is selfish but it would serve as a great motivator to Ino to improve as a kunoichi," Shikamaru put in his thoughts on the matter.

Sakura sighed. "Shikamaru's right, Ino could use the motivation."

Hinata though actually frowned. "I do not think that it would suit Ino though. She is more a ninjutsu user and that kimono is better suited for someone who practices taijutsu, from that standpoint, I feel that it would better suit me."

"Okay, Hinata gets it," said Ino. "That is honestly the first time I've ever heard her stand up for herself for anything, not to mention that is the most I've ever heard her say at one time."

Naruto looked to Shikamaru briefly who only shrugged. He then held it out to Hinata who seemed to suddenly feel embarrassed to have spoken out as she did.

Next Shikamaru handed Naruto a pair of chopsticks.

"Chopsticks? What the hell Shika?" asked Kiba.

Naruto though ignored Kiba, choosing instead to observe them. "Guren's Crystal Hair Sticks."

**Guren's Crystal Hair Sticks – **Stylish and practical these hair sticks are more than meets the eye. Acting as the perfect hidden weapons these are both fashionable and practical for any long haired shinobi. Requires Long Hair &amp; Lv30. Stats: +50 INT &amp; +50 WIS, 50-75 Damage, DUR 25/25.

"Me, I have long hair, in fact, I'm the only one here with long hair and let's be honest, those will look great on me," said Ino.

Naruto looked around and received no other interest so he was only too happy to hand them over to Ino.

Shikamaru passed up a scroll next.

"Doton: Doro Nikutai no Jutsu, hey, is that the mud body technique you were talking about Chouji?"

"Yes, and as the one that had to fight that guy, I think I've got first dibs on it," said the rotund shinobi, glaring at the scroll as if he was still looking at the enemy.

"I could learn that too," said Kiba, this time is was a legitimate interest.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind either," said Naruto.

"I have to go with Chouji on this one, it's definitely a defensive technique and after tonight, he could use some more skills to absorb damage." Shikamaru may have been biased toward Chouji but he did have a good point.

"Chouji it is then," said Naruto, tossing him the scroll. "Okay, what's next?"

Shikamaru handed him the thing he'd seen around Kiho's wrist at the start of the fight.

"Kiho's Bakugeki-ki," Naruto read aloud.

**Kiho's Bakugeki-ki – **A device design to use chakra to launch bombs capable of mass destruction or distraction. Requires Lv30. Stats: Holds up to 8 bombs, DUR 80/80.

"Ooh," said Kiba and Tenten in a single voice.

"I think this goes with it," said Shikamaru, handing Naruto a small booklet.

"[Beginner Bakuhatsu], this is just was we need, an explosives expert," joked Naruto.

"Me," said Kiba excitedly. "Pick me, it's totally me."

"Seeing as Tenten has gotten something I think Kiba should get this one. Plus if he can learn to launch his smoke bombs from that thing then he'd be more effective.

"Fine," pouted Tenten.

"Then here you go, Kiba, enjoy," said Naruto, handing over the wrist launcher and booklet.

Before Naruto could get the next piece, Kiba's book went up in fire and smoke. "Whoa, I know bombs . . . hell yeah!"

Naruto couldn't help the shiver that passed through him after hearing that statement, it made him wonder if he made the right decision.

Shikamaru handed Naruto a small box next with a slight smirk.

"What are you smirking about?" asked Naruto, not yet looking at what he was handed.

"Just look at what I gave you," said Shikamaru.

"Kigiri's Playing Cards, neat," he said with a smile.

**Kigiri's Playing Cards (52/52) – **A standard deck of playing cards, or are they? These cards can actually be used in place of shuriken and have seals placed on them to automatically return all throw cards to the box when chakra is channeled into it. Requires Lv30. Stats: +10 Luck, +10% experience to Underworld Skills, 16-20 Damage (ranged), DUR 100/100.

"Okay, I want this," said Naruto.

"I wouldn't mind it either," said Shikamaru. "However, I think it would best suit you, especially given your [Bookmaking] skill."

"Thank you, Shikamaru, anyone else want them?" asked Naruto.

"I wouldn't mind having them but I've already gotten something," said Tenten.

"I haven't gotten anything yet but [Shuriken Bukijutsu] isn't really my thing so it's all yours," said Sakura.

"Thanks guys, okay, what's left Shikamaru?" asked Naruto.

"Only three more things to deal with," said Shikamaru, squatting down and picking up a black furry looking thing that as soon as he touched it unfurled and launched itself at him wrapping tightly around his wrist. "What the hell?" he yelped as he felt the thing bite into his forearm.

"It's a bat," said Sakura. "It must have been one of Rinji's'

"Get it off," said Shikamaru, trying to pry the thing off before suddenly stopping. "What the hell is a familiar, Naruto?"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh a little. "Seriously? That's kind of awesome actually. A familiar is like a friend you can summon to fight with you. I have two toad familiars but I had to sign a summoning contract to get them. Looks like this little guy chose you, so I guess he's yours."

"He's drinking my blood," complained Shikamaru.

"He's a little guy, he can't drink that much," said Sakura. "And if you feel faint, just take a blood pill."

Naruto squatted down and picked up the last two items. One was a scroll that he immediately tossed to Shikamaru. "I think you'll need that for your new bat friend, it's a skill scroll for [Komori Seichu], bat controlling. Enjoy."

"Gee, thanks," said Shikamaru flatly, as he tried in vain to pry the little winged rodent from his arm.

"Okay, last up," started Naruto, looking at the last scroll. "[Orochimaru's Iryo Notes]."

"Mine," said Sakura.

"After you show them to the Hokage," said Shikamaru, not disagreeing.

"I want them too but I guess since I already got something, I'm good," said Karin, once again she was lovingly caressing her new scalpel worrying the rest of the genin.

As soon as Naruto handed Sakura the notes the doors at the other end of the hall opened and Kurenai stepped out.

"I'm glad you're all safe but that was really foolish of you to come here," she both praised and chided them at once.

"We didn't have much of choice in the matter," said Naruto. "Is everyone in there okay?"

"A little scared, maybe a little banged up but mostly alive at least."

"Is my mother in there?"

"No, she along with most of the other patients were successfully evacuated as soon as the siege on the hospital began. And speaking of evacuation, we need to get the rest of these patients out of here and to the shelters," ordered Kurenai.

"Is Sasuke okay?" asked Sakura, worry in her voice.

"He's fine, the doctor's had to sedate him to prevent him from rushing out to fight those Otonin so he may be in a bad mood when he wakes up but at least he'll be alive when it's all said and done."

"Great, then let's get these people into the evacuation tunnels under the hospital and to the shelters with everyone else," said Naruto, happy to have saved everyone here but worried about the attack on the Hokage tower.

Kurenai nodded her agreement.

**Congratulations! *Special Event* Hospital Under Siege Completed. You and your team are awarded 1000000 Exp Each.**

**Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.**

Naruto would have sighed in relief and annoyance if he wasn't too tired to do anything more than finish the evacuation and get some much needed rest. He knew there would be plenty of time to worry about his gamer stuff later.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10% increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV37** Next Level: **19.55%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **8463/8463

**CP: **5904/5904

**STAT: ** Base + Bonus = Total

**STR: **134 + 68 = 202

**VIT: **117 + 359 = 476

**DEX: **134 + 84 = 218

**INT: **107 + 113 = 220

**WIS: **107 + 108 = 215

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **489 + 122 = 611

**SPD: **99 + 172 = 271

**HPR: **48 + 114 = 162

**CPR: **21 + 65 = 86

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir** (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Inspirational Leader** (+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of), **Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)** Prepared 24:00:00.00** (+10% Damage to scouted opponents, -10% Damage from scouted opponents)

Uzumaki Naruto was the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?

**Point: **21

**Ryo: **504650

**Hospital Evacuation Loot Drops****:**

**Hone no Noroi – **Made from the bones of the curse, this weapon is capable of shapeshifting into any weapon the user desires by adding chakra. Stats 100-150 Damage. +50 STR &amp; +50 DEX. Cost 50 CP to change form. DUR 200/200

**[San Bakudan no Jutsu] Skill Scroll**

**[Orochimaru's Juin Notes] Skill Book**

**Juin's Enjintou – **Used to keep the Noroi alive during his creation this scalpel is sharper than even the sharpest wind blade, capable of cutting through even the thickest of skin. Requires Iryonin with [Beginner Enjintou] skill or higher. Stats: 25-50 Damage. +100 INT. +25% healing to Iryojutsu. DUR 25/25.

**Guren's Battle Kimono – **A powerful and stylish kimono designed for combat, lined with high quality chain mesh armor capable of stopping even futon enhanced blade from cutting through. Requires Female &amp; Lv30. Stats: +250 DEF, +25 DEX, +25 VIT, DUR 105/105.

**Guren's Crystal Hair Sticks – **Stylish and practical these hair sticks are more than meets the eye. Acting as the perfect hidden weapons these are both fashionable and practical for any long haired shinobi. Requires Long Hair &amp; Lv30. Stats: +50 INT &amp; +50 WIS, 50-75 Damage, DUR 25/25.

**[Doton: Doro Nikutai no Jutsu] Skill Scroll**

**Kiho's Bakugeki-ki – **A device design to use chakra to launch bombs capable of mass destruction or distraction. Requires Lv30. Stats: Holds up to 8 bombs, DUR 80/80.

**[Beginner Bakuhatsu] Skill Book**

**Kigiri's Playing Cards (52/52) – **A standard deck of playing cards, or are they? These cards can actually be used in place of shuriken and have seals placed on them to automatically return to the user after throwing. Requires Lv30. Stats: +10 Luck, +10% experience to Underworld Skills, 16-20 Damage (ranged), DUR 100/100.

**[Komori] Familiar**

**[Komori Seichu] Skill Scroll**

**[Orochimaru's Iryo Notes] Skill Book**


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

The world was weeping, that was why Naruto's face was wet and no other reason. Not the deep feelings of loss tearing at his being that made his face wet. It was the whole world mourning the loss of one of the greatest men to have ever walked it.

It didn't make any sense to him. None of it did. He completed his quest to save Konoha. As soon as he and his team stepped foot inside the evacuation shelter with the last of civilians they rescued from the hospital he got the completion notice.

**Quest Alert: Save Konoha.**

**The village is under attack, do everything in your power to protect both the village and its citizens.**

**Objectives:**

**Gather a team to assist you in defending the village.**

**Safely escort 50 civilians to safety.**

**Defeat 20 members of the invading force.**

**Defeat Shukaku.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Prevent Orochimaru's shinobi from abducting Uchiha Sasuke.**

'**Talk no Jutsu' Sabaku Gaara.**

**Assist Hayate and Yugao in defeating Baki.**

**Completion Award: 1000000 Exp**

**250000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: Destruction of the Konoha.**

**Imprisonment, torture, and death.**

So why was he gone? Why did the old man have to die? Was it because he chose to go the hospital instead of the Hokage tower? Could he have still gone to the Hokage tower and fought to help there if he hadn't stepped into the shelter? So many questions and he'd never get an answer.

"It doesn't feel real, does it?" asked Sakura, she was standing next to him but he didn't remember her arriving.

"It doesn't," said Naruto, a quaver in his voice. He really wasn't in the mood to speak. His mood was a dark as his clothes were at that moment.

"You two were close," she said softly. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"I'm sorry for all of our loss," he replied just as quietly, barely a whisper.

Naruto stood in the rain, letting it wet his face and clothes alike. It didn't matter, even when people began to depart for their homes to mourn with their family and friends. He could see Konohamaru and Asuma standing with the members of their clan looking as devastated as he felt.

"Naruto-kun," called Nara Yoshino. "Why don't you come home with us tonight? We could use the company."

Naruto nodded absentmindedly. He allowed the mothering woman to gently guide him away from the funeral.

"I just can't believe he's gone," he said softly.

"He will be greatly missed," said Yoshino agreeing with him.

"Jiji," Naruto finally cried, letting Yoshino wrap him in a motherly hug, something he desperately needed just then even if he didn't know it or understand it.

**You have slept in your bed. HP &amp; CP are fully restored.**

It had been a week since the funeral and things were just starting to get back to normal in the village hidden in the leaves. All the sensei were absent having been sent out on missions while their genin, himself and Karin included, were put to work repairing the village in the aftermath of the invasion.

Even with normalcy starting to return, Naruto keenly felt the void from the loss of the closest thing to a grandfather he'd ever known, probably ever would know. He didn't feel like doing anything, no training even, not if he could help it anyway. In fact the only thing he did do was clear his mind as part of his deal with the Kyuubi.

Thankfully he was saved from any further reflection by a knocking on his door. A quick look at the clock told him it was too early for Karin to be up so it was someone else.

Naruto padded through his apartment in his boxers and a t-shirt, not caring to get dressed, even if he had been forced awake by his gamer ability an hour ago. After unlocking the door he cracked it slightly to see who it was.

"Ero-Sennin? Where have you been?" he asked, almost demanded as he fully opened his door.

"I've been on a bender, kid," he said tiredly, holding onto the door frame for support.

Naruto would have asked what a bender was but based on the way the man stank of sake it was safe bet to say we he was drunk for the last week. "You done with your bender?"

"I've mourned my sensei for seven days. Now it is time to get back to work. Which is why I'm here," he explained, entering the apart then going straight for the kitchen sink and pouring himself a glass of water.

"Training?" asked Naruto.

"Mission, I want you to come with me," he said, guzzling his first glass of water

"What's the mission?"

"We're hunting for my old teammate," he answered, before guzzling a second glass of water then pouring yet another glass for himself.

Naruto ignored all that as he felt his veins turn to ice. "Orochimaru," he hissed angrily.

"Not that teammate though believe me, if the mission was to hunt him down I'd happily do it. No, this time we're looking for my other teammate, Tsunade-hime."

"Why do we have to hunt for her? I thought she was retired or something?"

"She has wandering status but I've been ordered to retrieve her, the village really needs her right now. I want you to come with me, maybe get in a little training along the way, plus, I've heard some whispering about Akatsuki that are making me uncomfortable with letting you out of my sight for too long."

"I'll get my stuff and we can go," said Naruto, starting to move toward his bedroom to get ready.

"Easy there kid, we won't be going for a bit, I've got quite the hangover to recover from first. So for now, why don't we sit down and you can tell me what happened to you during the invasion," Jiraiya more or less ordered Naruto to sit and talk to him.

So he did, he told the Sannin everything that happened from the quest to help people and rescuing civilians to having to choose between the hospital and the Hokage tower and everything that happened with the special event. A lot of it was said with self-recrimination and even having to choke back a few sobs.

"You did the right thing," said Jiraiya confidently, when Naruto finished his story.

"But if I'd gone to help the old man, he might still be here," protested Naruto.

"Or he'd be dead anyway and so would you and your friends," countered Jiraiya. "I'll tell you now kid, not you or any of your friends would have survived anything happening near the tower that night. It is quite honestly the most brutal fighting I've seen since the third war. A lot of chuunin and jounin died fighting off the invasion force and more still are injured and will be lucky to recover enough to resume being shinobi.

"I can also tell you with absolute certainty that Sarutobi-sensei would have been proud as hell of you and your friends. He would have made the same choice to protect the innocent, the sick and the injured. Not only that, but you kept that Uchiha brat out of Orochimaru's hands which is a lot more important than you realize. Can you image what Orochimaru would be able to do if he ever got his hands on the Sharingan? You've told me how overpowered that shit is already, imagine it in the hands of someone like Orochimaru?

Naruto couldn't help the shudder that ran through him. "Not good."

"No, not good at all," snorted Jiraiya before he adopted a very serious look on his face. "I know it hurts kid, I'm hurting too. But it will get better with time. For now, let's settle for distraction, eh?"

The boy could only nod in acceptance. And for the first time since he'd heard the old man was killed he felt a little better. Sure, he'd talked a little with his friends but it wasn't the same. His [Gamer's Mind] didn't stop him from feeling, it just allowed him to better control those emotions. And so with a deep breath in and out he refocused on the reason Jiraiya was here in the first place.

"So this mission, what rank is it?"

"A-Rank, but only because of the importance. I'm not expecting much danger except from Tsunade's temper," joked the old man, pouring yet another glass of water and downing it.

"Where do we start?"

"Our Hime has a gambling problem, so we start with checking various gambling dens and casinos. Eventually someone will be able to point us in the right direction," he explained.

Naruto could only nod in understanding. A part of him though couldn't help but leap to his own [Bookmaking] skill. Going to such places would be a good chance to gain some experience.

"How about you make us something to eat, I'm sure Karin will be over in a bit anyway," suggested Jiraiya, breaking Naruto from his thoughts.

"Sure, how's a veggie omelet sound?" he asked.

"Works for me kid," said Jiraiya, now nursing his water as opposed to guzzling down one glass after another.

The room stayed silent after that, Naruto cooking and Jiraiya trying to will himself to recover from his hangover sooner rather than later.

Eventually Karin did join them, sitting quietly at the table, still half asleep.

The three of them enjoyed the quiet meal together.

"What time are we supposed to report today?" Karin asked, finally breaking the silence.

"11:00 but Ero-Sennin asked me to go with him on a mission so I'll be gone for . . . Ero-Sennin, how long is this mission expected to take?"

"At least a month, maybe two," he answered, sitting back from his half-finished breakfast.

"Okay, I'll let the others know. Maybe when you get back, you can finally explain to them all properly about your Gamer ability. They have all refrained from asking given the mood you've been in but . . . well anyway, I'm going to get going. Good luck on your2 mission, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks Karin, and I will try to explain when I get back," he replied to her already retreating form.

"Anyway, we'll be heading out around noon so take care of any business you need to. In the meantime, let me see those notes you got."

Naruto opened his inventory and took out [Orochimaru's Juin Notes] skill book and handed it over to Jiraiya.

"I need to make a copy of this which means I need to go get a blank book. You go take care of any other business you need to and I'll meet you at the south gates at noon." The older man stood and headed for the door, still a bit wobbly on his feet. "I'm never drinking again," he groused, knowing that wasn't true in the slightest. "See you soon, brat," he said as a final goodbye.

"Sure thing, Ero-Sennin," said Naruto, locking the door behind the man.

Looking around his apartment was fairly clean so he didn't need to do anything before leaving, probably just see the landlord to make sure his rent was covered so he didn't come back to Konoha only to find out he'd been evicted.

After dressing, Naruto opened his inventory again and pulled out the other skill scroll he'd gotten that night.

**You've obtained the skill scroll [Futon: Renkudan no Jutsu].**

**Would you like to learn the skill?**

Naruto tapped the (Y) causing the scroll to go up in smoke and flames.

**You've obtained the skill 'Futon: Renkudan no Jutsu'.**

Naruto opened his skill list to get a full review of the new skill and couldn't help but whistle in appreciation.

**[Futon: Renkudan no Jutsu (Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 300]**

An A-Rank ninjutsu. Take a deep breath, and then pound your stomach to apply external pressure, the power of which is used to shoot a highly compressed air ball from your mouth. Because of the large quantity of chakra kneaded into it, it explodes the moment it reaches its target, dealing an enormous amount of damage. Deals explosive damage 300-350. Chance to inflict [Concussed] status to target.

"Talk about overpowered," said Naruto, unable to keep the slight grin from his face.

Naruto was out the door a few minutes later after reviewing a few things in his skill list, several of his skills had leveled a fair amount during the invasion but he hadn't really checked them too closely.

Downstairs Naruto banged on his landlord's door, unfortunately the old bastard survived the invasion.

"What do you want?" he demanded as he opened the door.

"I'm leaving on a mission today, I might be gone a month or two. I don't want any issues with my rent while I'm gone so I'm here to take care of it now," Naruto explained directly.

The old man clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I need the furnace repaired otherwise you can just pay me the thousand ryo for each month you expect to be gone."

Naruto quickly accept the quest and rather than get distracted by repairs he just paid the man three months' rent to get it over and done with.

Out on the streets Naruto ended up just wandering around, he still had a few hours until he had to meet Ero-Sennin. He was still stocked on supplies so he didn't really need to buy anything. Speaking of buying things, he had a massive boost to his reputations in Konoha after the invasion, he gained a solid 400 positive reputation points with just about everyone in Konoha. It felt weird to go to general store or farm stand and be treated like a normal person, no glaring, no threats, just a 'How can I help you?' from the employees. To think that things could change that much was a bit unreal.

"Yo, Naruto," called a voice Naruto easily recognized as Kiba's.

"What's up, Kiba?" asked Naruto, turning to face his friend . . . rival . . . whatever.

"Not much, just going to meet my team," he answered, shrugging slightly.

"How are they doing?"

"Good, we've mostly been busy with crap repair missions in the village. Sensei is still out on her own mission."

"Same, I'm actually heading out on a mission today with Ero-Sennin."

"Lucky, I wish we could get a real mission. Is your team going with you?"

"Nah, just me and Jiraiya as far as I know."

"Even luckier," groused the boy.

"Yeah, well, my luck never holds man. It's totally messed up. I get an awesome mission only for it to turn to shit. Or I'll win a bunch of money gambling only to have a fine for some bullshit show up on my door."

"Sounds like video game luck to me," laughed Kiba.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, curious as it wasn't really something he ever paid attention to when he gamed.

"You never noticed it?"

"Uh, no."

"Shit, it's like karma. If you do good things you get rewarded but if you do bad things you get penalized, right?" he explained.

"What about bad things being done to you? Do you get something good to make up for it?" asked Naruto.

Kiba shrugged. "Don't know, probably, I mean in games the hero always has bad shit happen to him but he gets kick ass loot and rewards for being the hero. It's like a balance thing I guess."

"Huh, that's interesting. I wonder if my luck is why this shit happens to me?"

**A special skill has been acquired through a special act.**

**After acquiring knowledge of hero's karma and its function, your 'LUK' has been revealed and a skill governing your luck, 'Gamer's Karma' LvMax has been created.**

**[Gamer's Karma (Passive) LvMax]**

Luck is often referred to as the probability that something good will happen to or for you. Karma is the balance between positive and negative actions, wherein positive actions will yield positive results and rewards and negative actions will yield negative results and penalties. As The Gamer you are subject to increased luck when being rewarded but in order to keep balance the difficulty is also increased.

Passively increases LUK 100%.

Passively increases DV 25%.

Additional 100% increase in LUK when DV increased.

"Oh, that's messed up," groused Naruto. "And what the hell is DV?"

"Difficulty Value," answered Kiba, earning a flat look from Naruto.

"And how would you know that?"

"What? I used to play video games a lot before I got Akamaru" asked Kiba, grinning a bit.

"I kind of wish you didn't know that cause now I know that and it really pisses me off," said Naruto, trying to keep his cool even though he could feel a vein in his neck starting to throb in agitation.

"What happened?"

"[Gamer's Luck] skill was created," answered Naruto.

Kiba snorted a laugh immediately. "Ha! Only you Naruto. And boy am I glad I don't have your problems."

"You have no idea," complained Naruto.

"Well, it's your problem now," said Kiba. "Anyway, I've got to meet my team. See you later and good luck with that."

"Thanks, jerk."

Having nothing better to do with his time, he continued wandering which lead him to finding a shop he hadn't previously encountered.

"Konoha Realty," he read from the shop sign. There were a few scorch marks on the building but nothing too bad and based on the sign they were open for business.

A quick check of his reputation menu showed that he was actually on good terms with the place which was surprising considering he'd never seen nor visited it before. That also likely meant he'd never pranked it or the owners.

**Konoha Realty – Friendly – 500/1000**

"Welcome to Konoha Realty," said a way too happy and cheerful young woman as he stepped inside.

"Uh, thanks," said Naruto, instantly uncomfortable with the fake smile the lady was giving him. It wasn't the fake 'I hate you' smile he was used to getting, this was more of a 'I smile because I have to but couldn't really care less' smile.

"So, lose your home in the invasion? Or just shopping for new home? We have several great listings that might interest you," she started into her sales pitch right away.

A new home, now that was never something Naruto had ever really considered before. He lived in his crummy apartment for as long as he could remember but the thought of a new home, a home that was his and didn't have a shitty landlord constantly asking for rent and threatening to evict him. Now that was something he could get behind.

"What are we talking about here?"

"Well, that all depends on you? Do you know how many bedrooms you want? Bathrooms? Condo or house? What neighborhood you want to live in? These are all things you need to consider when spending the kind of money it takes to purchase a home."

"What kind of prices?"

"Again, it varies, so let's start with where in the village you'd like to live?"

Now that was a difficult question for Naruto. His first thought was to be near the tower to get to his missions easier but then he thought about being closer to his friends only to then turn his thoughts to the training fields. "I have no idea."

The lady's smile finally wavered a bit before she pulled out a folded up map from her desk drawer and spread it out. The map was of the village and it was marked with maybe a hundred pieces of tape in various colors, mostly red, green, blue, and a few orange and yellow.

"Red are listings that require a lot of work to make them livable, there are a lot after the invasion simply because there was a lot of damage. Orange are in pretty bad shape but can technically be lived in. Yellow are in the middle ground, a little bit of damage to be repaired but livable even without repairs. Now the green are those that are completely livable and have no damage at all but are usually older homes so the style is a bit outdated and they may require a bit more maintenance. And finally the blue are new and in pristine condition. Now, as you can imagine, prices go up at each level."

"Makes sense," said Naruto, looking the map over. There really was a lot of red. But he really wasn't interested in having to complete rebuild a house so he eliminated those. "Forget the red, even if I can repair just about anything, I don't want to deal with that many repairs."

The lady nodded, folded up the map to put it back in her drawer only to pull out four others. She opened the first one and it just had orange marker on it. Naruto guessed that the others were for the yellow, blue, and green markers.

"Now, anything in orange is going to range from 700,000 ryo for a studio in a colorful neighborhood to 2.5 million ryo for a 3 bedroom in a nicer neighborhood," she started, stopping Naruto's interest in its tracks.

"And there ends my investigation into owning my own place," said Naruto simply.

"Now, don't be like that. You can always get a loan from the bank, assuming you have good credit," she said, her smile never leaving her face.

"Yeah, not getting a loan. I'll just have to save up for a while until I can afford to pay cash," he stated. He had no interest in dealing with the Konoha Bank, a place he'd never visited let alone was going to risk his money with.

"Oh but sir-"

"Thanks but no thanks, lady. Anyway, I've got get going. Good luck fleecing the next sucker," he said rather harshly, then leaving quite abruptly. He'd buy his own place someday but at those prices it would be a while before he even considered it.

**Your poor treatment of a working woman has lowered your reputation with Konoha Realty, your reputation has decrease by 250 points.**

"Damn it!" cried Naruto, cursing both himself and the stupid system that just went out of its way to screw him over.

Which left Naruto thinking about his conversation with the lady. He was rude to her, no doubt about it. But it also make him realize the lady did have a point about getting a loan from the bank. While he wasn't ready to get a loan from the bank just now, he might someday which means he'd need to start building a reputation with them. It was probably something he should look into, it was the adult thing to do, a thought that made him shudder all on its own.

Finding the bank wasn't difficult, it was situated right next to the Hokage Tower. It was a short building, only two floor but, like the Hokage Tower, it was built to withstand a bijuu attack. The grey exterior was nothing specials nor were the black bars protecting the windows. The Fuin that Naruto could barely make out though was something special.

Naruto shook his head to clear away the distraction that learning what the seals were and focused instead on entering the bank. He check his reputation one last time to make sure he wasn't hated but the reputation clearly said it was unfriendly.

"Good morning, please state your purpose for entering," said a guard as soon as he stepped inside.

"I need to open an account," he answered.

The guard, Obaga Ganyo Lv47, pointed toward a counter on the left side of the lobby where a man with a '?' hanging about his head was standing. "Don't start any trouble."

Naruto could only nod, he had no interest in starting trouble. He just hoped no one would start trouble with him. With responding he approached the counter he was directed to only to be greeted by a sneer from the man behind the counter.

"What do you want?"

A frown marred the young genin's face as he wanted nothing more than to assault the jerk but he also knew that it was a bad idea. "I need to open an account?"

**Quest Alert: Growing up sucks, dealing with the bank sucks more.**

**Open an account with Konoha Bank.**

**Difficulty Value: 1 (+0.25) = 1.25**

**Objectives:**

**Open one of three standard accounts.**

**Deposit the funds necessary.**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: Increased Reputation with Konoha Bank.**

**Greater Reputation increase with Konoha Bank per Bonus Objective.**

**Completion Failure: Loss of Reputation with Konoha Bank.**

Naruto tapped the accept button without giving it much thought.

"What kind of account would you like to open?" asked the clerk.

"What kind are there?"

"There is a checking account, you can deposit money to be spent via check as opposed to carrying around all of your cash and risk being robbed. You can open a savings account which will pay you interest for storing your money with us. There are also investment accounts which allow you buy stock in various companies throughout the elemental nations that may increase or decrease in value."

It was a very rough explanation but it was enough for Naruto to understand the gist of it. For now though, he would be fine with a simple savings account. "Just a savings account."

"Minimum deposit of 10000 Ryo, only gains interest after 100000 Ryo have been deposited."

The neat, tidy stack of 250000 Ryo, successfully shut the clerk with attitude up. "Will that due?"

"It's not stolen is it?"

"No," said Naruto empathically. "I've been saving up. Now will you let me open an account or not?"

"Fill this out," said the clerk with a resigned sigh.

A few minutes later, Naruto handed over the form and received a booklet back. Inside the booklet was a single line printed stating: Deposit 250000.

**Bonus objective completed: +10 reputation with Konoha Bank for every 10000 ryo past the first 100000 deposited.**

**Completion Awarded: +100 reputation with Konoha Bank.**

"Nice, 250 rep with the bank," he said to himself, grinning slightly, Naruto slipped the booklet into his inventory and only too happy to depart the bank.

**Making a smart choice to invest your hard won Ryo pays off and has caused your WIS to go up by 2.**

**Making a smart choice to invest your hard won Ryo pays off and has caused your INT to go up by 1.**

"Double Nice," commented Naruto, subtly closing the two windows informing him of his unexpected improvements. It may have only been a few less things to train but that made a difference.

After a quick, if a little early, lunch at Ichiraku's, Naruto headed for the gate to meet Jiraiya as planned.

"You're late, brat," said Jiraiya gruffly.

Naruto looked at the clock on the wall of the watch post. "One minute," he snapped back.

"You're still late," stated Jiraiya. "Anyway, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's get on the road," he said simply enough.

**Quest Alert: A-Rank Mission: Slug Princess At Large. **

**Locate and convince Senju Tsunade to return to Konoha.**

**Difficulty Value: 50 (+12.5) = 62.5**

**Objectives:**

**Search for information on the whereabouts of Senju Tsunade.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 1200000 Exp**

**100000 Ryo**

**Increase reputation with Konoha**

**300000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 120000 Exp**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

**Evil Hokage Appointed**

"Oh fuck," Naruto nearly screamed in frustration. There was no decline option.

"Problem?" asked Jiraiya.

"New quest. Can't decline it. We're royally screwed." It was three very simple statements but they were clear enough. Add to that there was the new 'Difficulty Value' that gave him a number plus the obligatory 25% increase in difficulty not that that number told him anything as he didn't have anything to compare it to.

"Meh, I'm here with you, you'll be fine," Jiraiya tried to reassure him.

Naruto wanted to cry, Jiraiya clearly wasn't taking this seriously enough and he knew that no matter what he did he wouldn't be able to change the pervert's mind.

"We're burning daylight, brat. Let's go!"

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10% increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV38** Next Level: **1.22%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **8563/8563

**CP: **6004/6004

**STAT: ** Base + Bonus = Total

**STR: **134 + 68 = 202

**VIT: **117 + 359 = 476

**DEX: **134 + 84 = 218

**INT: **108 + 114 = 222

**WIS: **109 + 110 = 219

**LUK: **19 + 30 = 49

**DEF: **489 + 122 = 611

**SPD: **99 + 172 = 271

**HPR: **48 + 124 = 172

**CPR: **22 + 72 = 94

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir** (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Inspirational Leader** (+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of), **Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)

Uzumaki Naruto was the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?

**Point: **26

**Ryo: **251650

**[Gamer's Mind (Passive) LvMax]**

Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows peaceful state of mind. Immunity to psychological status effect.

**[Gamer's Body (Passive) LvMax]**

Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game. After sleep in a bed he restores HP, CP and all status effects.

**[Gamer's Karma (Passive) LvMax]**

Luck is often referred to as the probability that something good will happen to or for you. Karma is the balance between positive and negative actions, wherein positive actions will yield positive results and rewards and negative actions will yield negative results and penalties. As The Gamer you are subject to increased luck when being rewarded but in order to keep balance the difficulty is also increased.

Passively increases LUK 100%.

Passively increases DV 25%.

Additional 100% to LUK when DC increased.

**Status: **Throughout the game you can acquire and unveil any number of status effects both temporary (i.e. Stun, Sleep, etc.) and permanent (i.e. Sharingan, Hyouton, etc.). Some permanent effects can only be gained through genetics while others require specific actions.

**Title: **Earn your title and gain varied and sometimes beneficial titles throughout the game.

**STR: **Strength effects how much damage your physical and weapon attacks deal and how much damage your ability to parry reduces. Speed is increased 0.25 when both STR and DEX increase by 1 if equal.

**VIT: **Vitality impacts your total HP and endurance. The more vitality you have the more damage you can take and the longer you can fight. This also impacts how quickly you recover HP while not in combat. One point of VIT is equal to 10 HP. One point of VIT is equal to 0.10 HPR per 5 Seconds.

**DEX: **Dexterity effects how effectively you can dodge attacks and how accurate your own attacks are. Speed is increased 0.25 when both STR and DEX increase by 1 if equal.

**INT: **Intelligence impacts your total CP and how much damage your jutsu cause. The also impacts your ability to learn and memorize information. One point of INT is equal to 10 CP.

**WIS: **Wisdom affects how smart you are and how well you can use what you know. This has a massive impact on your Chakra Control and how quickly your CP recovers while not in combat. One point of WIS is equal to 0.10 CPR per 5 Seconds.

**LUK: **Luck is the chance of an event falling in your favor in non-combat actions. This impacts mostly gambling and loot drops.

**HPR: **Health regeneration is the rate at which you regain HP while not in combat.

**CPR: **Chakra regeneration is the rate at which you regain CP while not in combat.

**DV: ** Difficulty Rating is the level of challenge a mission, training field, or special event rates.


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

A/N: A few people caught an error at the end of last chapter where I typed DC instead of DV, that's been fixed. Someone else also pointed out that the Playing Cards Naruto won in the last chapter give +10 luck which I failed to include in his luck total so I also fixed that. Thanks everyone for reading and please continue to enjoy.

Paranoia, it seemed, was Naruto's new worst enemy. The trip away from Konoha with Jiraiya was quiet and sedate . . . except for Naruto jumping at every shadow or shift in the underbrush.

"This has got you really freaked out, huh kid?"

"Yes!" Naruto answered emphatically. "You should be a lot more freaked out. These things never end well."

"Have you ever failed one of these quests?"

"No, but that's not the point. If I do fail it's a really bad thing, usually these kinds of mission end with me dead or Konoha destroyed. This time is even worse than that, Evil Hokage, do you even hear what I'm saying?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "But you've never failed one of these missions before right?"

"No, but-"

"Then relax, you're not going to start failing now," said Jiraiya.

"How can you know that?"

Jiraiya sighed. They had been traveling most of the day already and the sun would be setting soon. "Let's stop here for tonight."

"Out in the open?"

"Relax you damned brat, we're shinobi. If we're going to be attacked it's better it happens out in the open as opposed to in the city where civilians may get hurt. Besides, no one is going to mess with us, so just relax," ordered Jiraiya, moving off the road and dropping his pack in a clearing. The man then formed several quick hand seals before slapping the ground.

Naruto knew the seals as soon as the pervert began them but he was still curious as to why he was summoning now of all times.

As the smoke cleared, Jiraiya stared down at the dozen small toads, each of them grey, with green markings. "Okay, sentry toads, you know what to do." And just like that the dozen small toads vanished.

"Sentry toads?" asked Naruto.

"They set a perimeter around our campsite so we can sleep and not have to keep watch. If anyone . . . or anything for that matter, enters their perimeter they'll warn us," explained Jiraiya.

"How will they warn us?" asked Naruto.

"You'll know it when you hear it," answered Jiraiya, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. "For now, set up your tent then gather up some wood to make a fire. I'll go get us some water."

Naruto frowned. He wasn't comfortable with the way things were going. They could be attacked at any moment and Jiraiya didn't seem to care. Still, it wasn't like he had any choice in the matter.

It didn't take long to set up camp. Naruto put up his tent, gathered wood and even dug a small fire pit before Jiraiya returned with a bucket of water.

"Sit down, you're pacing is getting annoying," ordered Jiraiya, setting up his own tent.

"I can't help it," Naruto snapped back irritably.

"Kid, if you don't sit down and relax right now, I'm going knock you out," warned Jiraiya. "Besides, shouldn't your [Gamer's Mind] help keep you calm?"

Naruto was about to snap back irritably but stop with his mouth open. Why was he getting so agitated? Logically it didn't make sense for him to be so emotional about the situation, so why was he?

"Something's wrong," he finally said. This actually drew Jiraiya's attention.

"Wrong how?"

"I shouldn't be getting this upset, annoyed sure but I should still be able to be calm and think through things logically. Right now, I can barely think straight."

"Strip, now," said Jiraiya, rushing across the clearing and starting to yank Naruto's clothes off with the young man's assistance. Once Naruto was standing stark naked. "How do you feel now?"

"Embarrassed but calm enough to think."

"Then we check your clothes," said Jiraiya, picking up the boys jacket first.

Naruto grabbed his boxers first to examine them as closely as he could, his [Observe] activating wordlessly.

**Plain Boxer Shorts – **Standard white boxer shorts meant to protect your modesty.

**[Observe]'s level has risen by one.**

Seeing the shorts were clean he put them back on first and after feeling no ill effects from them he picked up his pants.

**Black Medium Leg Armor (Enhanced Armor) **– A tough long pants covered in thick cloth and lined with medium chain mesh and leather. This armor provides decent protection from weapons, easily stopping most shuriken and senbon from causing significant damage. Requires Lv20. Stats: +155 DEF, +15 STR, +20 VIT, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], DUR 75/75. Fuin: +150 VIT.

Once again seeing nothing he put them back on and again felt no change in his mood.

"Jacket looks clean," said Jiraiya, holding it out to Naruto.

Just to be safe he used [Observe] anyway.

**Crimson Medium Body Armor (Enhanced Armor) **– A tough long-sleeve jacket covered in thick cloth and lined with medium chain mesh and leather. This armor provides decent protection from weapons, easily stopping most shuriken and senbon from causing significant damage. Requires Lv20. Stats: +155 DEF, +10 STR, +10 VIT, DUR 75/75. Fuin: +100 DEF, +50 VIT

His shin guards and forearm guards were the same, both clean.

That left only his sandals.

Jiraiya picked him up only to hiss. "Son of a bitch," he growled angrily.

"What is it?" asked Naruto, activating his [Observe].

**Black Genin Shinobi Sandals **– Made of tough cloth-like material these sandals are perfect for genin as they do not impede flexibility or chakra flow but also offer additional protection. Requires Lv11 Stats: +10 DEF, +5% effectiveness to [Stealth], +1.00 to speed, DUR 50/50. Fuin: +20 SPD, +10 DEX. Unknown Fuinjutsu.

"That's new, it wasn't there this morning," said Naruto. "What is it?"

"It's not a genjutsu fuin. This is more chemical I think. Adrenaline maybe and something else. We're going to seal these away for now. Do you have a different pair of sandals?" The man then pulled out a scroll and sealed the sandals away in short order.

"Unfortunately no," answered Naruto, unable to keep the frown from his face. "Who the hell did that? Hell, when did they do that?"

"Where did you go today?"

"A real-estate shop and the bank."

"Probably not the real-estate shop but the bank . . . it's possible. They do use a lot of fuinjutsu to keep the building and its assets protected," he said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"So I guess I'll go barefoot until we reach the next town," said Naruto, shrugging a bit. It wasn't like he'd never gone barefoot before.

Jiraiya though pulled out his sack and set it heavily on the ground and began digging through it, his brow furrowed in concentration. It took a minute before the old man's face lightened with a grunt of "Ah ha" he pulled out a pair of geta and tossed them to Naruto.

Catching the wooden sandals easily enough, Naruto's [Observe] activated with but a thought.

**Young Jiraiya's Geta – **Worn in Jiraiya's youth and kept out of sentimentality, these hard wooden sandals are well worn but extremely durable even as they've aged. A traditional footwear not often worn by shinobi these have been modified slightly to make them both stylish and effective. Requires Lv20. Stats: +30 DEF, +10 Kick Damage, DUR 150/150. Fuin: empty.

"Nice," said Naruto, appreciative of the footwear.

"They'll work at least," said Jiraiya.

"They're better than the sandal you confiscated," said Naruto, even as he opened his [Uzumaki Fuinjutsu] skill menu, selecting [+20 SPD &amp; +10 DEX to Feet].

"Really now?" asked Jiraiya. "Then I supposed you'd be willing to pay me for them, especially seeing as you're already applying a fuinjutsu to them."

"How many of my birthdays have you missed?" asked Naruto, shutting Jiraiya up rather effectively.

"Right then, now back to the sabotage," said Jiraiya.

"It's not the first time," said Naruto. "I guess it happened a bunch in the academy." He wasn't really paying attention to Jiraiya while he was applying the fuin to his new sandals but if he had been he would seen the man's knuckles turn while and muscles in his jaw bulged from clenching his teeth too hard.

The man grumbled for a minute before taking a cleansing breath. "Anyway, I'll investigate it further once we return to Konoha. Are you feeling better now without that seal messing with your body?"

"Much better," said Naruto. He truly did feel considerably calmer. "But how would whoever did that know what to use on me? I mean, why go chemical when I'm sure a genjutsu effect would have been easier?"

"That is a very good question. I think we have to assume that whoever did it knew about your [Gamer's Mind] and it giving you an immunity to mental effects. Amplifying certain chemicals in your body though, that would physically affect you which would in turn affect your emotions. I think someone found a loophole in your [Gamer's Mind]," explained Jiraiya. "It was very clever and very, very dangerous. If that had stayed on you much longer . . ." The rest of the message went unsaid.

Naruto could only nod in understanding. "So who would have that information?"

"Your friends, your sensei, the old man," said Jiraiya, before groaning as if he just realized something important. "I should have secured the old man's files sooner. Someone may have gotten into sensei's files before I could seal them away. I fear I know who but it will be all but impossible to prove."

"Who?"

"Shimura Danzo," answered Jiraiya.

Naruto immediately opened his reputation menu. "Shimura Clan, hated, one hundred out of one thousand, and I now have a Shimura Danzo listed. He has three question marks and a zero out of a thousand."

"Sounds about right. Well, things just got a lot more dangerous, it would seem Shimura Danzo has decided you're an enemy."

"But why me?"

"Danzo is a complicated man. He loves Konoha more than anything. He would do anything to ensure Konoha is always the best village, the strongest village . . . maybe even the only village. He's beyond ruthless and will do anything if it means making Konoha stronger. He was sensei's rival for the title of Sandaime. As for why you, I can only speculate. Maybe he feels you're a danger to Konoha. Maybe he fears your potential. Or maybe he just bat shit insane like I've been saying for years."

"Great, and now he has it out for me," complained Naruto.

"So get stronger so no matter what he throws at you, he can't touch you." It was said as if it was both obvious and simple. "And with your gamer ability, you have to potential to become the strongest ever. Especially if you choose to become my fulltime apprentice."

"What's that?"

"It means I would take over all of your training until you either surpass me or decide you no longer want to learn from me. You interested?"

'**Apprenticeship' is now available. **

**Jiraiya-sensei** – By selecting Jiraiya to apprentice under, you will permanently gain +2 STR &amp; +1 VIT &amp; +2 DEX &amp; +1 INT &amp; +2 WIS per level achieved while under his direction. You will also earn +100% experience when training [Fuinjutsu], +50% experience when training any ninjutsu skill, +50% experience when training [Kuchiyose no Jutsu].

**Would you like to become Jiraiya's Apprentice?**

There was nothing to think about, Naruto was quick to accept. "I accept."

"Good, now that we have that sorted and seeing as we've already set camp for the night, there are a few skills you need to learn and the sooner you learn them the better."

"What do you have in mind?" asked Naruto, before being blasted with so much killing intent it was shocking to him. That anyone, let alone his godfather, could have that much intention to kill him was terrifying on a primal level.

"What . . . what was that?" asked Naruto, unknowing standing defensively as he faced Jiraiya.

"Killing intent," he answered, only to unleash it again.

Naruto felt Jiraiya's intent to kill him like a hammer on an anvil. There was no subtlety to it at all, just a blunt force instrument. "Why?" he asked when it vanished again.

"You need to be able to sense it, your [Gamer's Mind] allows you to ignore it and do what needs to be done but you still need to be able to sense it so you can make the right decision at the right time," explained Jiraiya, unleashing the intent once more. "First we make it obvious, and with time we'll make it more and more subtle until you can identify killing intent as easily as breathing."

Naruto could only grit his teeth and bare it as the older shinobi exposed him to the intent repeatedly.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Through repeated exposure to the intent to kill, a skill to emit your own, 'Intent' Lv. 1 has been created.**

**[Intent (Passive/Active) Lv1 Exp: 0.00% CP: 25 per 5 seconds]**

The ability to express your intent to harm, to kill, to protect, to everything. You are now able to express your intention through your chakra and body without words as well as sense the 'Intent' of others.

Passively increases the chance to detect 'Intent' 1%

Passively increases resistance to 'Intent' 1%

Additional 1% increase to 'Intent' when active.

Additional 1% increase to resistance to 'Intent' when active.

Additional 1% increase to shielding others from 'Intent' when active.

"You can stop, I learned the skill," said Naruto, still struggling under the killing intent that was playing havoc on his emotions, ignored or not.

"Good, now to level it up," said Jiraiya, redoubling his efforts. He continued to hit Naruto with bursts of killing intent until the boy finally collapsed from exhaustion.

**You have slept in a tent and sleeping bag. HP &amp; CP are 50% restored.**

Naruto's eyes opened easily enough to the standard morning message. He wasn't honestly happy with Jiraiya, that training was not cool. He understood why Jiraiya wanted him to learn it, it was an extremely valuable skill, especially if he was going to lead others. The ability to protect others from killing intent by using his own was necessary. Still, learning it sucked a lot.

After breakfast, the pair packed up camp and started to travel again. It was bit after noon that they entered a small town. They could have made the journey in just one day as the town wasn't far from Konoha but it was probably good that they stopped for the night given the seal they found on Naruto's sandal.

"So what's the plan?" asked Naruto, his gaze wandering around the town. There were no guards posted that he could see and people were going about their business without any obvious worry or concern.

Not getting answer, Naruto looked toward Jiraiya to find the man missing and only his pack with a note tacked to it remaining. "What the hell?" A quick look saw Jiraiya wandering down the street already with a woman in a rather slutty looking dress. "Damned pervert," he groused, picking up both the note and his sensei's pack.

"Check into a hotel, I'll find you later. P.S. Don't wait up," Naruto read aloud before he shredded the note. "That ass!"

So it was a grumbling Naruto, asked around for the nearest hotel. Turned out there were only two in the whole town. One that catered to a seedier clientele, probably where Jiraiya was anyway. And the other that was used by normal people, hence the one he chose to check into.

In the rented room, Naruto tossed Jiraiya's pack uncaringly onto one of the beds before throwing himself on the remaining bed that looked quite inviting if only to relax a bit before he started training. He hadn't been laying very long when there was a knock on his door.

Naruto couldn't help but snicker slightly. "Shot down already, pervert?" Naruto called loudly as he walked toward the door before a message popped up.

**Killing Intent sensed ahead of you, be cautious.**

That froze him in his steps. Jiraiya wouldn't mess with killing intent in the middle of a village of civilians, at least he didn't think he would.

A pair of quick hand seals and a small pop and puff of smoke and Naruto's mirror image was standing next to him.

A simple nod to each other and the clone went for the door while Naruto activated [Toton Jutsu] went out the window to find an elevated spot to watch and hide from.

The clone opened the door. "The desk didn't give you a key?" he asked, continuing on as if he was expecting Jiraiya.

"Uzumaki Naruto," said a young dark haired man with red eyes that Naruto knew only too well. This man was an Uchiha and the only other Uchiha was the one that slaughtered Sasuke's clan which mean this man had to be Itachi.

"Who wants to know?" asked the clone, wordlessly activating his [Observe] skill.

**Name: **Uchiha Itachi

**Title: **Nukenin

**Level: **LV?** Next Level: **?

**Affiliation: **?

**HP: **?/?

**CP: **?/?

**STR: **?

**VIT: **?

**DEX: **?

**INT: **?

**WIS: **?

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **?

**SPD: **?

**Status: Mangekyo Sharingan** (+15 DEX &amp; +19 INT &amp; +12 WIS per Level), **Absolute Loyalty** (+25% to all stats when acting on behalf of ?), **Hinokami** (-25% cost to katon jutsu, +20% damage to katon jutsu) **Genjutsu Master **(-25% cost to genjutsu, +20% effectiveness of genjutsu)

Uchiha Itachi is infamous for slaughtering the entirety of the Uchiha clan in one evening with the exception of his younger brother. As a member of the organization Akatsuki and a wanted S-Class criminal, Uchiha Itachi is not to be underestimated.

The clone looked next to the man to his partner, a blue skinned giant that looked like he had more in common with a shark than a man, the shark-like teeth in his mouth did nothing to dispute the observation. He again activated his [Observe].

**Name: **Hoshigaki Kisame

**Title: **Nukenin

**Level: **LV?** Next Level: **?

**Affiliation: **Akatsuki

**HP: **?/?

**CP: **?/?

**STR: **?

**VIT: **?

**DEX: **?

**INT: **?

**WIS: **?

**LUK: **?

**DEF: **?

**SPD: **?

**Status: O no Nai Biju** (+500 CP per Level), **Treacherous** (-50% to all reputation gains), **Mizukami** (-25% cost to suiton jutsu, +20% damage to suiton jutsu) **Kenjutsu Master **(+25% to kenjutsu attack speed, +20% sword damage)

Hoshigaki Kisame is a former member of Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shu, he is wanted in every shinobi nation for crimes uncountable. After killing the former holder of Samahada, he claimed the blade for himself and has been a juggernaut ever since.

The clone was very thankful it was a clone for if he had been the original Naruto he might really end up dead.

**Quest Alert: A-Rank Mission: Slug Princess At Large.**

**Locate and convince Senju Tsunade to return to Konoha.**

**Objectives:**

**Search for information on the whereabouts of Senju Tsunade.**

**Distract Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame long enough for Jiraiya to rescue you.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Completion Award: 1200000 Exp**

**100000 Ryo**

**Increase Reputation with Konoha**

**300000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 120000 Exp**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

**Evil Hokage Appointed**

"We need you to come with us," stated Itachi, his voice was flat and lacked any emotion.

"Is something wrong with the hotel?" he asked, playing dumb.

"Can't we just cut his legs off and move this along," complained Kisame.

The clone instantly shut the door and jumped backwards before it started sucking in air, molding chakra as he pulled it in. Both of his arms raised in front of him before slamming into this stomach. The [Futon: Renkudan no Jutsu] while only level 1 was more than enough to destroy the door and good section of the wall, blowing wood shrapnel all over the hallway and pelting the two nukenin, irritating them more than injuring them.

Not giving the pair a chance to attack him he began to unleash a torrent of [Futon: Kaze no Yaiba no Jutsu] at the pair in the hall, trying to burn through all the chakra used to create him, which was actually quite a lot of chakra.

Unfortunately, the clone barely got to half of its chakra before it was killed by a kunai from Itachi, it was thrown through its hand ending the jutsu assault but also dispelling the clone.

As soon as the real Naruto got the memories and excess chakra back from his clone and knew he needed to find Jiraiya and he needed to find him fast. Quickly activating [Toton Jutsu] again, he made a run for it. Jiraiya would undoubtedly be near the red light district so that was his best bet, especially with the Sharingan wielding psychopath capable of seeing chakra chasing after him.

A couple clones sent out as distractions should hopefully by him some time to find Jiraiya, or at least that's what Naruto hoped as he ran, spawning clones at random as he went, sending them in different directions.

Eventually Naruto had to duck down on a rooftop and activate his [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu], he was hemorrhaging chakra in his efforts to avoid them. Wincing as a few more clones were systematically destroyed by Kisame who seemed to have spawned a number of his own water clones.

"Come on, Ero-Sennin, where the hell are you?" whispered Naruto, getting up and moving again, spawning clones once more.

Naruto wasn't sure how long he'd been running and hiding from the two nukenin but he was starting to run out of places to search and places to run to.

"If you are hoping for the Sannin to save you, you should know we've already taken care of him," said Itachi emotionlessly.

"Bullshit," said Naruto, the real Naruto, not a clone. This also meant that Itachi had caught up with him.

"Oh, you didn't find it odd that an attractive young woman would approach him . . . an older, uglier man. She'll keep him distracted more than long enough for us to take you and disappear," said Itachi calmly. "Surrender, and we won't have to injure you."

"Ha, you really think that all this ruckus we've been causing wouldn't draw his attention? How many explosives have I set off trying to slow you down? You really think he wouldn't notice?" asked Naruto, it was part bluff and part prayer that the pervert was paying attention.

"And yet, he's not here, is he?"

Naruto would have retorted with something sharp and witty if not for the human missile impacting with the rooftop and continuing through the roof and several floors below it followed by the familiar white haired man Naruto knew to be his sensei.

"Not bad, gaki," said a smirking Jiraiya, unlike any Jiraiya Naruto had ever seen before. The man had an elderly toad attached to each of his shoulders, both of them remaining completely still and unmoving. The man himself had an enlarged nose that was greenish and covered warts.

Itachi didn't flinch though which actually worried Naruto somewhat.

"Now for you brat, you should know I hate using this form, it's so unattractive and if the ladies ever saw it I'd never get any again," said the pervert, turning to face Itachi unafraid.

"Senjutsu, I see," said Itachi, his eyes narrowing slightly. "So be it, we'll be leaving now." Jiraiya was about to move when a line of black fire appeared before him rising high into the sky, cutting off any chase the Sannin would have been able to give.

"Che, bastards," grumbled Jiraiya, pulling out a scroll and quickly sealing away the fire before it could spread.

"What the hell was that? And what the hell took you so long?" demanded Naruto, only to get whacked on the head by one of the elderly toads that disconnected from Jiraiya.

"Language, Naruto-chan," said the old toad. "I won't tolerate no sass from Jiraiya-chan, let alone a tadpole like yourself." The older toad then turned a whacked Jiraiya hard enough to plant him in the rooftop.

"Uh, yes sir," said Naruto, confused by the entire situation.

"Thanks, Pa," groaned Jiraiya, holding his headd that already had a significant lump forming.

"I'll go on ahead home, Pa. I'll get started on dinner, grub soup with fried lice on the side," said the older lady toad before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Yum," said Pa, smacking his lips a bit. "Now then, Jiraiya-chan, you and the tadpole going to be safe now?"

"Yeah, the kid did great distracting them like that. Gave me plenty of time to get into Sennin Modo," answered Jiraiya, still rubbing the lump on his head.

**Bonus Objective Completion Awarded: 300000 Exp**

**Quest Alert: A-Rank Mission: Slug Princess At Large.**

**Locate and convince Senju Tsunade to return to Konoha.**

**Objectives:**

**Search for information on the whereabouts of Senju Tsunade.**

**Distract Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame long enough for Jiraiya to rescue you.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Successfully evade Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame for 00:05:00.00.**

**?**

**Completion Award: 1200000 Exp**

**100000 Ryo**

**Increase Reputation with Konoha**

**300000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 120000 Exp**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

**Evil Hokage Appointed**

"Good, now don't you hesitate to call us if you need us," said the elder toad Jiraiya referred to as Pa.

"Um, what's going on here? Why would you thank him for whacking you? What is Sennin Modo? And what happened to Kisame?" All of this was asked while quickly waving away the quest update.

"Kisame was the body I threw through the building, breaking several of his bones and taking him out of commission for at least six months without healing from someone on Tsunade's level," boasted Jiraiya, his grin back in full. "As for what's going on here. I used the time you spent getting those bozo's to chase you to summon Ma and Pa and get into Sennin Modo which is what gave me the strength to treat Kisame like a ragdoll. And Pa whacked me at the end of the fight to get rid of the excess Shinzen Chakra so it wouldn't kill me. Any other questions?"

"I think that covers it," said Naruto, still not sure what just happened.

"Hmm, he's a good one, Jiraiya-chan. I like the look of him," said Pa, studying Naruto closely which surprised the young shinobi as he didn't even sense the old toad get so close to him.

"He's alright," said Jiraiya, trying to deflate Naruto's ego before it could get too large. "So kid, still think we're screwed on this quest of yours?"

"It's not over yet," warned Naruto, grumbling under his breath about stupid over powered perverts.

"No its not, which is why we're going to get out of town and start a little training," said Jiraiya.

"Training?"

"It's something you can work on as we travel as it only takes one hand to do it," explained the Sannin. "I'm going to start teaching you one of Minato's signature jutsu, the Rasengan."

**Quest Alert: A-Rank Mission: Slug Princess At Large.**

**Locate and convince Senju Tsunade to return to Konoha.**

**Objectives:**

**Search for information on the whereabouts of Senju Tsunade.**

**Distract Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame long enough for Jiraiya to rescue you.**

**Learn Rasengan Stage 1.**

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**?**

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**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Successfully evade Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame for 00:05:00.00.**

**?**

**Completion Award: 1200000 Exp**

**100000 Ryo**

**Increase Reputation with Konoha**

**300000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 120000 Exp**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

**Evil Hokage Appointed**

"Stage one, huh?"

"How do you know that?"

"Quest update, it's my next objective. To learn stage one."

"Good, but for now we need to get out of here before the local militia shows up and starts asking question we don't want to have to answer."

"You boys behave yourselves," ordered Pa, the elder toad watching the pair quietly the whole time. "I'll be taking my leave now. Just call us if you need us, Jiraiya-chan."

"Sure thing, Pa," said Jiraiya, giving a quick farewell wave to the toad. "Now, let's go get my bag and get out of here."

**You have slept in a tent and sleeping bag. HP &amp; CP are 50% restored.**

"Morning brat, sleep well?" asked Jiraiya, as Naruto exited his tent.

It was strange to see Jiraiya awake before him. Then he saw the bag next to the man, filled to the brim with balloons.

"Where'd the balloons come from?"

"Sent a clone to get them this morning," he answered. The man grinned as he tossed one to Naruto.

Naruto shot out a hand to catch it only for it to burst and spray him with water. "Gah, what the hell, Ero-Sennin?"

Jiraiya though just laughed happily at his little prank.

"It's not that funny," groused Naruto, trying not to grin in appreciation of a well-executed prank.

"Good times," said Jiraiya, wiping away a fake tear. He then tossed another water filled balloon to Naruto, which he caught carefully this time.

"So what's this about?"

Jiraiya grinned again, picking up another balloon. "Watch closely," he instructed before he focused on the water filled orb. He channeled his chakra slowly so Naruto could watch it form. He spun his chakra inside the balloon on one axis, then another, and another, each spin axis causing the balloon to bulge before it exploded in a shower of water.

"It exploded, you did it with chakra but how?"

"Figure it out," said Jiraiya.

"Show me one more time?" requested Naruto.

"Alright," said Jiraiya, taking another balloon.

This time Naruto was prepared, mentally focusing on using [Observe] as soon as the balloon started to bulge.

**Rasengan Stage 1** – Focus chakra into a water filled balloon and spin it on multiple axis at once.

Naruto blinked at the explanation, it sounded so simple. So he focused on his own balloon, filling it with chakra then trying to spin it. He learned very quickly how difficult it really was to spin the chakra in just one direction let alone multiple directions.

"This might take a while," said Naruto.

"I would expect as much," said Jiraiya, laughing slightly. "Now, let's pack up and get walking. You can work on it while we walk."

So they packed and started walking to the next town Jiraiya wanted to investigate.

It was about an hour later that Naruto finally made some progress.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Through repeated exercise into shaping your chakra, a skill to shape your chakra, 'Ketai Henka' Lv1 has been created.**

**[Keitai Henka (Active/Passive) Lv. 1 0.00% CP: 50 CP per 5 seconds]**

An advanced form of chakra control that involves changing the form and movement of chakra, determining size, range, and purpose of a technique.

Passively increase WIS 1%.

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 1%.

"Hey, I learned a new skill, [Keitai Henka]," said Naruto, happily.

"Good job, that's a good sign," said Jiraiya. "Now, just keep working on it and you'll get the hang of stage 1 in no time at all."

"How long do you think it will take to completely learn the Rasengan?" asked Naruto.

"Well, it took your dad about three years to make it. Then it took me about a year to learn it after he taught me but I wasn't very serious about learning it, I had other responsibilities. But now, it's one of my favorite jutsu. No hand seals, tons of damage . . . good times," sighed Jiraiya, lost in a memory it seemed.

"Right then," said Naruto. "Hey, it seems like all of my chakra control exercises increase my wisdom stat. If I would to put my points into wisdom would it make learning this easier?"

"Probably, if WIS is your main control stat then boosting it can only making learning it that much easier."

Naruto's brow furrowed for a minute in concentration. He'd been puzzling over what path to take for some time now. With his training weights he would never have to spend stat points on DEX, STR, or VIT ever again, not that he needed to mess with VIT anyway since the Kyuubi gave him +100 HP with every level. By that token he didn't need to spend the point on INT either as once again the Kyuubi gave him +100 CP with every level too. And just like that, he knew that his points would be best spent on WIS going forward.

So opening his status window, Naruto dumped all 26 of his outstanding points into WIS.

"Figured it out, huh?"

"Yeah," he answered.

**Wisdom breeds wisdom, making a wise decision in regards to your development has caused your WIS to up by 5.**

Naruto blinked in surprise. That was a huge gain in WIS for one action.

**Due to a shift in priorities, [In Balance] has been lost.**

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**By dedicating yourself to making good decisions, a skill embracing wisdom, 'Planner' LvMax has been created.**

**[Planner (Passive) LvMax]**

Making good and logical choices makes you a better leader and planner. Planning ahead enhances these attributes.

Passively regenerate 0.125% CP per 5 seconds per level.

Passively reduces CP cost of all skills 5%.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**By dedicating yourself to making good decisions, a skill embracing wisdom, 'Planner' LvMax has evolved to 'Tactical' LvMax.**

**[Tactical (Passive) LvMax]**

Making good and logical choices makes you a better leader and planner. Being tactical enhances these attributes.

Passively regenerate 0.25% CP per 5 seconds per level.

Passively reduces CP cost of all skills 10%.

Passively increases WIS 5%.

"Holy shit!"

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10% increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV38** Next Level: **5.44%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **8563/8563

**CP: **6004/6004

**STAT: ** Base + Bonus = Total

**STR: **134 + 68 = 202

**VIT: **117 + 359 = 476

**DEX: **134 + 84 = 218

**INT: **108 + 114 = 222

**WIS: **140 + 149 = 289

**LUK: **19 + 30 = 49

**DEF: **509 + 122 = 636

**SPD: **99 + 171 = 270

**HPR: **48 + 124 = 172

**CPR: **29 + 644 = 673

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir** (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Inspirational Leader** (+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of), **Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)

Uzumaki Naruto was the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **251650

**Apprenticeship****:**

**Jiraiya-sensei** – By selecting Jiraiya to apprentice under, you will permanently gain +2 STR &amp; +1 VIT &amp; +2 DEX &amp; +1 INT &amp; +2 WIS per level achieved while under his direction. You will also earn +100% experience when training [Fuinjutsu], +50% experience when training any ninjutsu skill, +50% experience when training [Kuchiyose no Jutsu].

**[Tactical (Passive) LvMax]**

Making good and logical choices makes you a better leader and planner. Being tactical enhances these attributes.

Passively regenerate 0.25% CP per 5 seconds per level.

Passively reduces CP cost of all skills 10%.

Passively increases WIS 5%.

**[Intent (Passive/Active) Lv9 Exp: 36.14% CP: 25 per 5 seconds]**

The ability to express your intent to harm, to kill, to protect, to everything. You are now able to express your intention through your chakra and body without words as well as sense the 'Intent' of others.

Passively increases the chance to detect 'Intent' 5%

Passively increases resistance to 'Intent' 4%

Additional 3% increase to 'Intent' when active.

Additional 3% increase to resistance to 'Intent' when active.

Additional 3% increase to shielding others from 'Intent' when active.

**[Keitai Henka (Active/Passive) Lv. 1 0.00% CP: 50 CP per 5 seconds]**

An advanced form of chakra control that involves changing the form and movement of chakra, determining size, range, and purpose of a technique.

Passively increase WIS 1%.

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 1%.


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer (Manhwa)

A/N: Sorry it's been a while, inspiration has been sparse . . . or it was until PS4 released Elder Scrolls Online. It's a winner and lots of inspiration. Ah games, got to love them. Anyway, enjoy!

"For as much as you bitch about overpowered Uchiha bullshit, that is some really overpowered bullshit," stated Jiraiya, a smug grin on his face.

"Hey, the Uchiha still has stupid overpowered bullshit, also known as the Sharingan. Plus I'm sure if his eyes are strong enough he can copy any skill or technique just by seeing it," Naruto defended his newfound overpowered skill.

"Okay, that's a fair point," said Jiraiya. "Still, that is a really nice advantage to have. Now, what is considered out of combat? Is it just stopping fighting to catch your breath or to prepare a jutsu or is it when the fight has completely ended?"

"When the fight has completely ended, so I can't just stop fighting in the middle of a boss fight to hide and recover my chakra . . . well I can but I have to use a my [Raiton: Chakra Denka no Jutsu] to do that," explained Naruto. "Also, as soon as I use a technique I'm considered in combat. So I can't just use a cheap skill to infinite and never run out of chakra, it won't start refilling until I've stopped using any skills for a minute."

"Still, that will make training stupid easy, as long as you're not in combat you can spew out skills and techniques non-stop until you're empty then rest for a couple minutes and do it again. I'm kind of jealous."

"Well, gaming is grinding so a skill like that to help me with my grinding is extremely valuable. I just wish I'd done it sooner," Naruto stated with a hint of regret in his voice. It really was a game changer for Naruto, to be able to grind his chakra intensive skills without restraint so long as he rests for a couple minutes afterward.

"Anyway, the next town has a few small gambling dens. We'll split up to cover more ground."

"Even after what just happened with Itachi and Kisame?"

"You mean after you sent those two on a merry chase through that town giving me plenty of time to prepare and then thoroughly kicking Kisame's ass and scaring away Itachi? I think you can handle yourself long enough for me to come help if you need it," stated Jiraiya, his point well made.

Naruto could only nod in acceptance. "How much further to the next village?"

"Not too far, maybe another two or three hours at this pace," he answered, his gaze looking down the worn dirt road.

It actually took four hours after a trio of rather stupid bandits tried to collect a toll from the pair, they weren't even worth any experience. At least he was able to pretty much drain his chakra every ten minutes with about two minutes rest only to do it again yielding twenty-three levels to [Keitai Henka]. It was so overpowered but so awesome.

**[Keitai Henka (Active/Passive) Lv. 24 88.41% CP: 50 CP per 5 seconds]**

An advanced form of chakra control that involves changing the form and movement of chakra, determining size, range, and purpose of a technique.

Passively increase WIS 24%.

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 12%.

Passively reduces CP cost of all skills 4%.

Unfortunately even with the levels to his shape manipulation skill, he still hadn't mastered stage one of the [Rasengan].

"This jutsu is hard," whined Naruto, he was getting tired of the chakra burns on his hand even if they did heal almost immediately after being inflicted.

"Did you really think one of your father's original jutsu would be easy? He was the Yondaime Hokage for a reason, you know."

Naruto had to settle for pouting even as they entered the small village's gates.

"Now, no jutsu while we're here, especially in the gambling dens, understood?"

"Sure, but why?" asked Naruto with a small shrug.

"These guys tend to assume you're cheating if they see any chakra use and these guys tend to be rather harsh with cheaters."

"But we're ninja, if we aren't cheating we aren't trying," retorted Naruto.

"In this case that doesn't apply. Now, how are you going to get information?"

"I'm going to get into a game with the shadiest looking guy in the gambling den, hopefully get him talking a bit before asking if he's heard anything about Tsunade's whereabouts because she owes me money."

"And if she also owes them money?"

"I'm to offer to buy the marker," he answered.

"And if it's more money than you currently have?"

"I'm to find you," said Naruto. "And then you'll buy the marker."

"Good, now get a move on," said Jiraiya, walking into the village and disappearing.

Naruto set off into the town, hoping first to get some Ramen. He wanted to test a theory, ramen chefs and waitresses at the local ramen stand know everything that goes on in a village. Of course, it could have just been his stomach talking.

Sadly the ramen chef and his waitresses knew nothing. Apparently, not everyone visits the ramen stand when they pass through the village. It seemed kind of silly to Naruto that the local ramen stand wasn't a major tourist attraction but he supposed some people just didn't know better. Still, he was able to get information about some of the gambling dens and who to look out for in each of them.

Inside the recommended gambling den, Naruto's ears were assaulted with the bells and whistles of maybe a dozen pachinko machines while his eyes had to adjust to the darker room and flashing lights from the machines. Naruto walked past the machines into the back room, nodding once to the guard. It was strange just how quiet the back room was. He could see a game of mahjong being play at a small table to the right of the entrance, all four seats were taken and based on what he could see of the pot on top it was a very expensive game to buy into. To the left a man sat leaning back against the wall, in front of him was a simple bamboo bowl with two dice, a Chō-han game but there was no one there at the moment. At the back of the room were two tables, both dealing cards, one looked to be dealing blackjack and the other was poker.

It was the poker table that Naruto ended up targeting, three men and one woman sat there gambling. Of the four, it was woman that seemed shadiest of them despite the bright colored red kimono she wore. She was older if the wrinkles around her eyes and neck were any indication. But it was her teeth that gave him the shady vibe, gold teeth were visible even from where he entered the room.

Sitting down he was met with varied looks from the assembled players. He could clearly see the greed in their eyes as if they were wolves looking down upon a lost little lamb. They were underestimating him and he could use that.

"Fifty thousand buy in," said the dealer.

Naruto set a clean stack of bills on the table which the dealer took and replaced with a stack of chips.

"So, little boy, what brings you to this upstanding den of ill-repute?" asked one of the men.

**Toshi – Amateur Gambler – Lvl. 4 **

"I'm looking for someone," he answered honestly. He couldn't lie right now or it would give away any tell he might subconsciously have. Jiraiya had been very thorough in briefing him on various gambling tricks and traps during the journey.

"You're going to end up finding trouble if you're not careful, little boy," said a different man, he looked very unhappy as he glared at his cards.

**Sadoichi – Desperate Gambler – Lvl. 7**

"I can take care of myself," said Naruto, shifting slightly to make sure he could feel the kunai hidden up his sleeve just in case he needed it. All of his other weapons and anything that might identify him as a shinobi was hidden in his inventory leaving him feeling rather naked at the moment.

"Leave the brat alone, just deal the next hand," said the old lady.

**Yuri – Card Shark – Lvl. 17**

He was right, he'd have to be careful of this lady.

The dealer dealt five cards to each of them.

Naruto lifted his cards to check his hand. Ace, king, queen, jack, all spades, and a two of hearts.

"Place your bets," ordered the dealer.

Around the table various bets were place, Sadoichi folded first. Yuri bet twenty thousand out the gate causing Toshi and the last man, Yoshi, to fold leaving it to Naruto to call or fold.

Naruto's called matching her bet. He then slid one card face down while Yuri slid two cards to the center.

The dealer dealt the new cards.

Naruto picked up his new card, a ten of spades. It took everything he had not to grin like a mad man.

"Oh, so the little-boy is happy with his cards," said Yuri, her eyes crinkling in mirth. "If that's the case then you should have no problem betting the rest of your little pile of chips." She taunted him.

Trying not to frown at her catching his happiness he played along, pushing the rest of his chips into the pot.

"You're cruel bitch, Yuri," stated Yoshi.

**Yoshi – Store Clerk – Lvl. 5**

The woman glared at the man. "You can leave any time."

The man nearly growled at her.

"Are you going to call or yap all day?" asked Toshi, he was clearly anxious for the next hand.

"Fine, call," said Yuri, pushing the necessary chips to match in. "Show me what you've got, little boy."

Naruto just shrugged before laying his hand down face up.

"You little bastard," hissed the woman instantly on her feet and nearly throwing her cards at the dealer. "You won't play me again you little shit," she warned.

"I just played the hand I was dealt," he said honestly. "It's not my fault it was the best hand ever."

**You've placed a winning bet causing your LUK to go up by 1.**

Naruto grinned victoriously both at beating the woman and the increase in luck. Apparently he'd just found out what he needed to do to grind his luck up.

Meanwhile, the men just laughed at the woman's anger and Naruto's innocent act.

"I like this kid," said Yoshi, grinning from ear to ear, patting Naruto on the back rather roughly.

"He's got some skill," said Toshi appreciatively. "Now let's play some poker."

The next few hands played quickly, the betting not going over ten thousand. Naruto broke even, winning one of the hands but losing the others, once again netting him a point of luck.

"So, you said you were looking for someone?" asked Yuri, seeming to have developed a quick but grudging respect for the young man that played her so well.

"Densetsu no Kamo," he answered.

"Ha, well I'll be, that woman had a kid that can actually win at gambling," laughed the woman, but the laugh was more of a harsh bark mixed with a cackle.

Naruto would have corrected her but if it worked in his favor then he'd let the illusion go on, he had no need to claim she owed him money.

"She owes me money," grumbled Toshi.

"She's owes us all money," laughed Sadoichi.

Naruto swallowed a bit nervously. "How much does she owe?"

"She owes me a hundred thousand," said Yuri, shrugging. "Don't worry though, she always makes good eventually. Does some medical work here and there and charges whoever she patches up a lot of money to do so."

"Still, I should buy her debts from each of you," said Naruto.

"Oh, so you have some honor to you. Clearly you're one apple that fell pretty far from the tree. Tell you what, you win this game. You win and I'll consider her marker paid in full."

"Now that's some betting action I can get into. So side bet, all of our marker with Tsunade if the kid wins and if we win . . . let's say her markers double."

"Deal, and if he wins you give us any information you have on her whereabouts," chimed in a new voice that Naruto knew.

"Ero-Sennin, why would you do that?" asked Naruto, turning slightly to glare at the larger man.

"Cause I can. And I'll pay her markers if the kid loses," said Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya," greeted Yuri, her voice rather frosty.

"Yuri-chan," replied the pervert, grinning lecherously. "How is that daughter of yours?"

"Pregnant," said Yuri, causing Jiraiya to pale instantly as the panic was clearly written on his face. "But don't worry, it's not yours. It's his," this time she pointed at Yoshi, her frosty glare shifting.

"I married her first," said Yoshi defensively.

"You still defiled my daughter," she snapped back.

"Haven't we all," grumbled Jiraiya, getting nods from the other two men at the table.

Yuri's face twitched slightly, trying not to leap from her seat to strangle all of the men.

"Ero-Sennin," groaned Naruto, disbelief written on his face. "I can't take him anywhere, I swear."

"I'm starting to like you more and more, kid," said Yuri, actually giving him a slightly kind smile. "But enough stalling. The side bet is placed, now let's play."

Hours passed as they played, chip stacks going up and down, Naruto's luck stat going up and down. Apparently losing big had a detrimental effect on his luck, something he found out when he lost ten thousand ryo in a single hand, four fours versus four kings.

"Last hand," called the dealer, now that only Naruto and Yuri remained. "All chips to center."

Five cards went out to each of them. Naruto collected his cards. Jack, jack, ten, four, two, all different suits.

"Two," said Naruto, passing in the four and two. Getting back two cards.

"Four," said Yuri, frowning as she turned in four cards meaning the remaining card was an ace.

Naruto looked at his cards again, including the two new cards. Jack, jack, jack, ten, and ten, a full house and hopefully enough to win the game.

"Ladies first," said Jiraiya, from his spot behind Naruto.

It was agonizing to watch. The woman flipped over one card at a time, seven, seven, seven, ace, and ace.

And just like that, Naruto breathed a sigh of relieve as he turned over his own full house. His three of kind beat hers.

**Winning big pays off big causing your LUK to go up by 5.**

"Che, I can't believe this kid is the 'Sucker's, kid," griped Yuri. "To think, that woman would breed let alone that he'd actually have good luck."

Jiraiya though was caught flat footed. "Sucker's kid?" he asked.

"That's why the kid is looking for her right? I could see her abandoning a kid like that. That woman runs away from everything," explained Yuri.

"Right, of course," said Jiraiya, trying hard not to laugh. "Be sure to spread the word that her kid is looking for her and buying up her debts."

Yuri's eyes narrowed slightly but apparently let it go. "Will do. As for Tsunade's location, last time I saw her she was heading south toward the capital. Probably to do some kind of medical consult for the daimyo or one of his wives."

"Thanks, Yuri-obaasan," said Naruto, grinning at the older woman.

"Obaasan?" she all but howled in outrage.

It was too late though as Jiraiya and Naruto were both already gone.

"So we're going to the capital?" asked Naruto.

"Nope, if she saw Tsunade-hime going south then she was actually going northwest," he said as he pulled a map out of his pack.

"Here," he said after a minute pointing to a town on the map.

"Tanzaku-gai," Naruto read aloud.

"It's a big gambling town. Lots of casinos and less reputable gambling houses there. That's where she'll go, that woman can never resist visiting that town," explained Jiraiya.

"Okay, so let's go," said Naruto, eager to get on the road.

"Hold on now, we're going to stay at a hotel for the day to rest, it's already three in the morning."

"It's that late?" asked Naruto. He knew they had been playing for a while but he didn't know it had been that long.

"It is, now let's go get some rest and we'll set off by noon tomorrow."

**You have slept in a bed. HP &amp; CP are 75% restored.**

Naruto woke up as usual, quickly closing the morning message before getting up from the bed. As normal he showered and brushed his teeth. After that he left the sleeping Jiraiya and headed out into Tanzaku-gai to continue the search for Tsunade.

They had arrived two days prior and thus far had not heard anything about her being there. Naruto had in the meantime racked up a rather impressive amount of ryo from gambling, further spreading the legend of the 'Sucker's winning son'. He really should try to squash the rumors but Jiraiya wouldn't let him seeing as once Tsunade heard she'd come running to put the pretender out of his misery.

That last part worried him a little but Jiraiya promised nothing would happen once she saw he was there too. A little part of him couldn't help but worry more that it might actually make things worse.

He was more worried about his quest being stalled, he'd hoped that after he finish stage 2 of the [Rasengan] training that it would prompt him to learn the third and final stage. He was working on it anyway but it still irked him.

**Quest Alert: A-Rank Mission: Slug Princess At Large.**

**Locate and convince Senju Tsunade to return to Konoha.**

**Objectives:**

**Search for information on the whereabouts of Senju Tsunade.**

**Distract Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame long enough for Jiraiya to arrive.**

**Learn Rasengan Stage 1.**

**Learn Rasengan Stage 2.**

**Locate Senju Tsunade.**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**?**

**Bonus Objectives:**

**?**

**Successfully evade Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame for 00:05:00.00.**

**?**

**Completion Award: 1200000 Exp**

**100000 Ryo**

**Increase Reputation with Konoha**

**300000 Exp per Bonus Objective**

**Completion Failure: 120000 Exp**

**Decrease reputation with Konoha**

**Evil Hokage Appointed**

So other than gambling, he just kept training, grinding his skills as best he can, at least those that wouldn't draw the wrong kind of attention. Even though he didn't gain any experience or sub-quests it kind of paid off.

**[Intent (Passive/Active) Lv27 Exp: 92.14% CP: 25 per 5 seconds]**

The ability to express your intent to harm, to kill, to protect, to everything. You are now able to express your intention through your chakra and body without words as well as sense the 'Intent' of others.

Passively increases the chance to detect 'Intent' 8%

Passively increases resistance to 'Intent' 8%

Additional 7% increase to 'Intent' when active.

Additional 7% increase to resistance to 'Intent' when active.

Additional 6% increase to shielding others from 'Intent' when active.

**[Keitai Henka (Active/Passive) Lv. 72 12.41% CP: 50 CP per 5 seconds]**

An advanced form of chakra control that involves changing the form and movement of chakra, determining size, range, and purpose of a technique.

Passively increase WIS 72%.

Passively reduces excess CP lost from using too much chakra by 36%.

Passively reduces CP cost of all skills 12%.

So that was his plan, he'd training from the time he woke up until around noon on the outskirts of the city. After training he went into town for lunch then back out to train some more.

Around dusk he'd hit the casinos winning money but also being careful not to get blackballed for winning too much. He'd learned the hard way not to win too much his first night in town when he'd won big and then won more. Long story short, he was no longer allowed to gamble in the eastern district of Tanzaku-Gai.

But for today's plan was going to be different. He was finally going to check out the giant freaking castle that dominated the city towering above all of the other buildings. He'd been planning to go for several days now but it was always just one more skill level and he'd go only to get five or six skill levels and it would be too late to really go and be a tourist. So this morning was all about exploring.

Exploring that quickly paid off with significant improvement to his [Observe] skill gaining seventeen much needed levels in a very short time and that was just on his journey from the hotel to the castle.

**[Observe (Passive/Active) Lv66 Exp: 88.01% CP: 5] **

Through continuous observation, a skill to observe objects, situations, and persons was generated that allows for quick information gathering. The higher the skill, the greater the data obtained.

"Welcome to Tanzaku-Jo," greeted a lady wearing a very old style kimono and offering him a brochure as he passed through the ticket gate. It was only 500 ryo to enter so it wasn't very expensive and even if it was it wouldn't have been a bother. He was very good at gambling as it turned out.

Getting a better look at the castle up close, Naruto couldn't help but be impressed. Standing guard outside the castle's main gate were a pair of soldiers in old samurai armor that at first blush looked to be actors but given the levels of the pair of guards it was easy to believe they really were samurai.

**Ichi Sanjo – Samurai Guard – Lv 32**

**Nanto Kato – Samurai Guard – Lv 31**

It was a good thing too as not even a second after Naruto got within about a foot of the gate he received an unexpected notification.

***Solo Event* ****Tanzaku-Jo – Infiltrators (DV 54) **– A local bandit army is looking to take this long standing castle as its new stronghold. Prevent them from taking the keep and drive them out. Defend the other tourists from the bandit infiltrators hidden amongst the crowds and defeat Oyabun no Azuma. Recommended Level: 32.

"Ah hell," grumbled Naruto. "Um, Guard guys," he called tentatively, unsure if he could enlist their help.

"What do you need, child?" asked the older of the pair, Sanjo.

"I think you might have a bandit problem."

"Do you have proof of this? We cannot be chasing after false tips from a child."

Naruto was about to jerk a thumb toward his forehead where his Konoha headband should be before he remembered he wasn't currently wearing it. Grumbling for a moment he opened his inventory to equip it to receive an error message.

**Cannot change equipment while in combat.**

"Son of a . . ." He wasn't happy about this particular situation. "What kind of proof do you need?"

"If there are bandits here they will most likely be members of the Yon Kaze Sanzoku. Every member will hold a fake coin with the kanji for four on one side and wind on the other. Bring us a few of those coins and we'll take your warning seriously," explained Sanjo.

**Event Objective: Collect 10 Yon Kaze Koka without being detected.**

"So, either I figure this out or I just leave now and forget all about it," said Naruto, more for himself than anything. Then he sighed exaggeratedly. "Who am I kidding? I'm totally going to kick this events ass."

That left Naruto with a conundrum. Identifying the member of the Yon Kaze Sanzoku wouldn't be a problem thanks to his [Observe]. But how was he going to get the coins without being detected? Obviously it meant he'd have to steal the coins which meant he'd have to learn very quickly how pickpocket the bandits.

"Okay then, let's try this," said Naruto, approaching the first man he saw with an affiliation with bandit group, doing everything he could to be as stealthy as possible. He reached a hand out toward the man's pocket only to find it empty. So he tried for the other pocket only to have his hand grabbed by the bandit who turned to Naruto with anger in his eyes.

"Go find another pocket to pick brat," said the bandit, shoving Naruto away.

Naruto though just breathed a sigh of relief. That bandit could have made things really unpleasant for him. Still, he had an objective to go after.

Rather than tempt fate by going after the same guy he chose to find another bandit and once again try to pick his pocket. This time he hit pay dirt, not only did he get his first coin he also took 2000 ryo from the fool.

**A special skill has been created through a special act.**

**Sticky fingers have liberated that which does not belong to you, a skill to steal things undetected 'Pickpocket' Lv1 has been created.**

**[Pickpocket (Active) Lv1 0.00% CP: 5]**

The ability to liberate items on a person without them being aware of their loss. 15% chance of successfully picking a pocket.

And just like that Naruto knew this event was going to take some time.

Almost two hours later he had finally collected the last coin from the first bandit he failed to pickpocket. With coins in hand, he went back to the guards.

"And just how did you get your hands on those?" asked Kato, his tone communicating suspicion and not much else.

"I'm a Konoha Genin," answered Naruto, hoping that would be a sufficient explanation.

"Che, shitty ninja," snarled Kato, one of his hands going to his sword.

"That's enough, Kato," ordered Sanjo, calming the younger man. "This young shinobi did us a service. Shut and barricade the gates immediately. Then sound the alarm, we need to bring as many of the city guard here as we can."

Kato snarled one last time for good measure before moving to do as he was ordered. He pushed the heavy armored door closed then pulled a lever to dropping iron bars behind it, securing it in place. After that he ran into the guard house and out of sight. It wasn't a minute later that loud bells began ringing, filling the castle and the surrounding area with noise.

"So much for the stealth approach. What do you want me to do?" asked Naruto, trying to be helpful.

"Don't get in our way," snapped Kato, having returned from sounding the bell. "We don't need your kind here."

Sanjo just sighed. "It would be best for you to simply get out of the way."

Now that was something Naruto didn't appreciate at all. These two armored clowns wouldn't even know about the bandits if it weren't for him. Worse, as he looked around he could see the bandits had taken hostages. The hell he wasn't getting involved.

**Event Objective: Eliminate all bandit infiltrators.**

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," said Naruto, not caring that Sanjo and Kato both ran to attack the bandits as they began to get organized. A quick look around and he could see the ground was solid stone so there was no chance of using it to sneak around. It was unfortunate that he only then remembered he knew another jutsu that was really good for sneaking around. So after taking moment to chide himself for not thinking to use it sooner when he was pickpocketing the bandits, he activate his [Toton Jutsu]

"Damn it, it's too early," screamed Zato, a level 30 bandit. "Who the hell tipped off the guards?" The man expected an answer but didn't get one. He looked to the left where his partner was standing only moments before holding a young girl hostage. Instead, he saw his partner's body on the ground and the girl running away.

A [Futon: Hien no Jutsu] later, Zato joined his former partner in the afterlife.

"Get to safety," Naruto ordered the civilians, even as they ran away in fright. He just had to hope they would be safe. Then he realized he was still invisible and sighed once more. "They probably thought I was ghost."

An unseen shrug of his shoulders was all he could do. There were more bandits to eliminate.

It took all of about twenty minutes to free all of the hostages while the samurai guards made a lot of noise and manage to create one hell of a distraction allowing Naruto to work unnoticed by the bandits until it was too late.

A blood curdling scream drew Naruto's attention sharply. It was the guard, Kato. There was a very thin man standing behind him with a pair of curved knives driven into his back through the armor. It worried Naruto that the thin man was able to get behind the samurai considering how closely he was standing to Sanjo.

The other samurai, Sanjo, was quick to move, his sword glowing slightly as it arced toward the thin man only for the thin man to vanish.

"Shunshin," grumbled Naruto, it was a good one too. Very quick, very smooth, and no handseals required. This man was dangerous.

**Kagejima Usui – Oyabun no Azuma – Lv 34**

Usui reappeared behind Sanjo prepared to stab him the same way he stabbed Kato and it would have succeeded too if the man had not been turned suddenly by a[Futon: Renkudan no Jutsu] impacting his side and followed up by a powerful front kick to the man's face sending him tumbling away.

Sanjo looked toward Naruto, surprise clearly evident on his face.

"Get him to safety if you can, I'll deal with this guy," said Naruto, his eyes not leaving the downed form of Usui for a second.

Sanjo moved quickly to do just that but the downed Usui exploded in a cloud of smoke, in his place was a jug with the kanji for 'oil' on it with a burning fuse. Sanjo grabbed Kato roughly and dived out away, trying to get some clearance from the jug that was about to explode.

Naruto didn't even register the explosion as he was already moving, ducking under Usui's attempt at a sneak attack behind him and Naruto countering with kick to the man's midsection.

"Shitty little ninja, messing with our plans. I'm going to enjoy killing you," snarled Usui, brushing some dirt from the brownish cloak that covered him from the shoulders down.

"And I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass," Naruto stated confidently. They were actually pretty evenly matched in speed and dexterity from what Naruto could see with his [Observe] skill. Still, best to not let the fight drag out. [Kage Bunshin no Jutsu] spawned a dozen clones that were quick to spread out, something Usui let happen.

"You'll need more than some crappy bunshin fool me kid," said Usui, sounding bored.

Naruto blinked as he understood just why Usui was underestimating him. He thought they were just a normal bunshin. "Saw through them did you?" asked Naruto, his natural prankster coming through just a little bit.

"Chuunin," he said, jerking a thumb toward himself before pointing at Naruto. "Failed Genin I'm guessing based on your lack of forehead prote-" He was cut off suddenly as one of the clones kicked him in the side of the head giving him an instant dazed effect. Another clone came low from the opposite direction slicing at him with a wind coated trench knife only for it to scrape against the man's cloak shooting sparks harmlessly into the air, sounding like blades clashing.

A rictus of fury spread across Usui's face as he lashed out, spinning in place his cloak spinning with him and somehow slicing the two clones that attacked him to shreds.

"Okay, now I'm taking you seriously kid," said Usui, no hint of playfulness in his voice.

"Is that good or bad?" asked Naruto, his hands already moving to unleash several [Futon: Kaze no Yaiba no Jutsu].

"Bad for both of us," he replied, ignoring the jutsu as they impacted his cloak but went no further. "And you may as well stop with the jutsu, you're just wasting chakra. See this cloak, I took this off a Suna jounin a few years ago, it's made chakra fiber. It sucks the chakra right out of any jutsu that comes close."

The reaction he got from Naruto was not what he expected.

"Oi, what the hell is with that look?"

"Please let that be my loot for kicking your ass, please let that be my loot for kicking your ass, please let that be my loot for kicking your ass," he began almost chanting, something his clones soon joined in on. It was more than a little creepy.

Usui really didn't like the chant and showed it by going after Naruto's clones with a vengeance, his cloak naturally disrupting them due to its chakra absorption properties but even with that they manage to get in a few hits, slowly chopping away at his health. Unfortunately for Naruto, he barely got any chakra back from the dispelled clones as Usui's damnable cloak was eating it all. It was Kisame's sword all over again.

The non-clone moved in quick to attack since jutsu was all but useless in this situation which meant he was going to have to rely on taijutsu and bukijutsu.

It was quick to turn fierce as the pair exchanged blows, Naruto finding out quickly he had to dodge more against this guy. He only realized it when the cloak that he was told was made from chakra absorbing fiber turned out to be made from thousands of tiny razor sharp, diamond hard blades, something he discovered painfully after he sliced up his hand on one particularly vicious punch to Usui's solar plexus sure it hurt Usui but it hurt him more.

After that he made an adjustment that left Naruto using his trench knives as pseudo brass knuckles which while they didn't get much if any penetration with that cloak it did protect his hands and allow him to fight on. In the end, it was the turning point in the fight, as equally matched as they were for speed and agility, Naruto still hit harder, a lot hard meaning it became a war of attrition, something he definitely wasn't about to lose.

"Heh, I underestimated you, kid," said Usui, laying on his back, the fight over. He was bruised and battered and completely beaten.

"It happens," said Naruto. "So, I'm going to knock out now so the guards can arrest you."

"That's fine by me, not like they'll be able to hold me for long after today," Usui warned, chuckling a bit at the end which turned into a painful cough, the man wincing in pain from most likely more than a few broken ribs.

**Congratulations! *Solo Event* Tanzaku-Jo – Infiltrators Completed. You are awarded 500000 Exp.**

"Why don't I like the sound of that?" asked Naruto. As if to answer his question he was rewarded with another message.

***Solo Event* ****Tanzaku-Jo – Ascenders (DV 56) **– A local bandit army is looking to take this long standing castle as its new stronghold. Prevent them from taking the keep and drive them out. Defend the castles outer walls from the bandits trying to scale the walls and defeat Oyabun no Nishi. Recommended Level: 33.

**Status****:**

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Class: **The Gamer

**Title: **Genin (+10% increase to experience gain)

**Level: **LV38** Next Level: **35.58%

**Affiliation: **Konoha

**HP: **9413/9413

**CP: **6105/6105

**STAT: ** Base + Bonus = Total

**STR: **142 + 79 = 221

**VIT: **125 + 436 = 561

**DEX: **142 + 93 = 235

**INT: **116 + 115 = 231

**WIS: **148 + 263 = 411

**LUK: 5**6 + 70 = 126

**DEF: **559 + 140 = 699

**SPD: **105 + 188 = 293

**HPR: **56 + 136 = 193

**CPR: **41 + 653 = 694

**Status: Uzumaki Clan Heir** (+100 VIT, +100 INT, +150% experience to [Fuinjutsu] Skill), **Kyuubi Jinchuuriki **(+100 HP &amp; +100 CP per Level), **Inspirational Leader** (+25% to experience gain to any team you are part of), **Kamikaze **(-25% cost to futon jutsu, +20% damage to futon jutsu)

Uzumaki Naruto was the dead last of this year's graduating class, rating so low because of his inability to create a basic bunshin. Naruto proved his worth after the test when he stopped a traitor and learned two A-Rank kinjutsu. His family is now revealed and the legacy of his origin is something to be overwhelmingly proud of, he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Kushina. But that still leaves the question, how did the Kyuubi escape?

**Point: **0

**Ryo: **1226675


End file.
